


I've got fire for a heart

by ariadne_odair



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Avengers AU, F/F, Fingering, Girl Direction, Oral Sex, Rimming, a couple of master assassins, a super soldier, a whole tonne of superhero sex, and taylor swift as head of shield, bad girls do it well, black widow louis, die young, harry being vaguely terrifying, liam being adorable and misunderstanding iphones, live fast, louis being obviously terrifying, louis has a saving the world kink, niall shooting pedestrians from a tree, oh and they're all girls, slow burn larry, who knew
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-16 12:36:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 36,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4625574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariadne_odair/pseuds/ariadne_odair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall has a weird obsession with arrows. Liam is literally ninety five year's old. Taylor Swift is head of SHIELD and potentially insane.  Louis is writing the handbook on sleeping with the enemy, whilst killing people with her thighs. The Avengers sounds like a girl band and they're all supposed to save the world.</p><p>girl direction. avengers au.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody :) so this is the avengers au I finally got round to writing - with one direction gender swapped, because fuck the lack of female representation in Marvel :)
> 
> To be honest, you don't need to have watched the Avengers to understand this - it's explained pretty much through out :) however I will put some links in the end notes!
> 
> Secondly, this is a Harry/Louis fic - but it's tagged slow burn for a reason :) Harry won't appear until next chapter, but I promise her and Louis' relationship will be a pivotal part of the story - but I really want to develop the plot and characters, so um. hang with for the shower sex/hate sex/let's fuck in the archery range and see if Niall walks in sex please :)
> 
> Massive thanks to my betas - [this gorgeous girl](http://patroclourry.tumblr.com/) and this [beautiful flower](http://perpetuallarry.tumblr.com/)

_her dreams are drowning in greyscale, like they always are. The only colour is burning crimson - there on that man’s chest, puddles of it behind the sofa, flecks of ruby under her nails, red, red, red, blood, blood, blood._

_the gun is light in her hand, soviet make, always soviet make, handgun because this is going to be close range, is it loaded, yes, hand outside the trigger guard, yes, tighten grip, steady with other hand, bang, bang, bang, bang -_

“I’m going to love you, until you hate me - “

Louis throws a knife at her phone.

It spears the phone to the table with startling accuracy. Louis lifts her head, blinks, and swears. Loudly. In a number of languages. Including Latin, which no one even speaks anymore. Fuck.

A moment later, her second phone rings. Louis slides out of bed, sparing a dirty look for the now silent device, and presses answer. “Hello?”

“You stabbed your phone again, didn’t you?”

Louis scowls. “Fuck off, Niall.”

Niall just laughs down the line. Louis has heard that laugh more times than she can count: high and happy after ordering Chinese, low and with an edge of steel as her arrow went straight though someone aiming at Louis, wet and slightly hysterical as she held her guts in with one hand. Fun times.

“Changing my ringtone to ‘Black Widow’ isn’t funny,” Louis snaps. She pads over to the bed, feet cold and sliding on the floor. She yanks her knife out of the other phone with a grunt. Shit. Taylor is going to kill her. This is the third one this week. “Iggy Azalea wouldn’t last two seconds in the field.”

She can hear the thwack as Niall undoubtedly hits her target. “Are you at the range? Or shooting pedestrians from trees again?”

“One time,” Niall whines, and Louis cracks up. “Shut up, Louis. Do you want to talk about the time you whip tied the guy from Domino’s because you thought he was a mole?”

“Never happened,” Louis answers blithely, and there’s that bark of laughter again. “Why are you ringing me anyway? It’s my day off.”

Louis slides her knife back under her pillow. She performs the usual checks on instinct: doors locked, windows too high to climb, no obvious signs of break-ins, no subtle signs of break-ins. No one tried to kill her today, isn’t that nice?

“Please, you don’t have days off,” Niall scoffs. There’s another thwack, then the sound of someone gasping. “You sharpen your knife collection and hack the files of SHIELD interns.”

“Last week I asked Ashton if he was due for a dental check up, I thought he was going to piss himself.”

“Fantastic,” Niall deadpans. “Anyway, you’re going to want to hear this.”

Louis opens the door to her fridge, humming thoughtfully. “Did we drink all the malibu?”

“Louis,” Niall says, voice laced in amusement, “Louis, they found Cap.”

_“Fuck.”_

_-_

_there are stories. whispers. slithers of suggestions that creep under your bed and hide in the corners of darkened rooms. stories of lost children. girls raised to women raised to weapons. little girls with red mouths and sharp, sharp knives._

_louis thinks the stories are bullshit, but that’s probably because she’s the recurring star._

 

-

 

Taylor’s in a meeting when they get to SHIELD, so they get to stand outside her office and terrorize the interns

Niall didn’t bother dumping her quiver at the range, so she has a Hoyt Gamemaster Two slung over her shoulder. She keeps notching an arrow and pulling the bowstring back, then laughing when people flinch.

It becomes a competition without either of them opening their mouths. Louis pulls out one of her many knives and flips it between her fingers. Each time she catches it she pops her bubblegum, and the reaction of poor Luke from Logistics is hilarious.

Niall’s a point ahead, after Michael physically stumbled when the string twanged, when Taylor opens the door to her office. A bunch of men stumble out and Louis eyes them in interest: she recognises all of them, especially the delegate from Kazakhstan she stopped from getting stabbed last week.

He gives her a nervous smile, sweat building at his temples and eyes a bit wild. Another man gives her a blatant one over - Louis’ in her skin tight, black suit as usual - then freezes when he meets her eyes. Louis smirks as he all but runs out - the Black Widow clearly still has a reputation. Good.

Taylor scowls when she sees them. Louis pops her bubblegum and beams at her.

“Is anything secret anymore?” Taylor drawls.

Niall blinks at her with guileless blue eyes. “Well, we are an espionage agency, Ma’am - “

“Just get in here,” Taylor snaps, and Niall snickers. Taylor just shakes her head before propping the door open, both of them trailing in dutifully.

Louis’ boss looks immaculate as ever. Her platinum hair is cut in a sharp bob, just skimming her chin. Her makeup is pristine, lips the colour of cherries, the dark flick of eyeliner at the corner of her eyes, nails painted to match her lips and glossy.

She’s in a dress Louis knows cost at least five grand. She also knows that dress is concealing at least five firearms and a switchblade. Taylor is a vial of poison in a pretty bottle, she’s a soft kiss with lips that taste of arsenic. She’s beautiful and poised and very, very dangerous.

“So you found Captain America,” Niall says bluntly, because Niall doesn’t beat around the bush. Niall is an arrow in the eye, rather than a slow, planned execution. “When were you going to drop that into the next staff meeting?”

Louis picks at her nails. “I don’t think we even have a staff room.”

Taylor purses her lips. “We are a law enforcement and counterterrorism agency.”

Louis shrugs. “Just think it would lift the mood of the place.”

Taylor stares at her, eyes bright and clever. Louis stares back. It’s a game, this, a carefully planned dance between them, and Louis knows how to play, knows where to put her feet. The point is to act like she couldn’t give a damn, as if this is all very tedious and not worth her time. Taylor knows she and Niall could hack SHIELD’s system with ease, but the trick is to get her to hand it over without getting scratched by those painted talons.

Eventually, Taylor blinks, and Niall fist bumps Louis under the desk. “Yes, we have Captain America.”

Niall pumps the air. “Knew it! You should probably sack whoever works on your firewall, by the way.”

Taylor raises one perfectly arched eyebrow. “As if that would stop you two.”

She’s not wrong - Louis is acutely aware she and Niall are the best agents that SHIELD have. There’s a reason they don’t partner with anyone else: solo missions, sure, but if you want something done you send in Hawkeye and Black Widow.

Louis’ watched Niall laugh her way out of a hostage situation, only to turn around and shoot the kidnapper in the throat. Dead on target of course, because Louis has never seen Niall miss. Louis knows things about Niall her file would never cover: bounced between foster homes, the boyfriend who left a bruise on her cheekbone and the arrow she left in his thigh. Niall is a diamond, dull at first but licked by fire and then dazzling until she blinds everyone around her.

“How did you even get Captain America?” Niall wrinkles her nose, leaning back in her chair. “Liam Payne is dead. Or at least presumed missing. For seventy years.”

Taylor slides a file across the dress. “Consider SHIELD lost and found.”

Louis flips through the file. “I forgot Payne was so small. She looks like a walking heart attack.”

She traces Payne’s face with her fingers. Mournful eyes gaze back at her, face thin and cheekbones prominent. She’s in a nurse uniform, grubby even in black and white, and a triangle hat is perched on her head. “She was a nurse on the Manhattan project?”

Taylor nods. “Correct. Liam assisted the original candidate for the programme, Andrew Samuels. When Samuels and Dr Erskine were shot by HYDRA agents, Payne finished the procedure herself.”

Louis winces at the next photo. There’s an ugly, intimidating machine, hooked up to wires and buttons. “Huh. She just hopped up into there?”

Niall snorts. “Kid’s batshit.”

Louis rolls her eyes. “Yeah, thanks for that assessment, Agent Horan.”

Taylor shakes her head. “She’s brave, I’ll give her that.” She clears her throat. “Why anyone would want to inject themselves with super serum is beyond me, but it was clear she and Samuels were close.”

Louis gives Taylor her best leer. “You can say the ‘s’ word, boss, I promise.”

She can actually see the veins bulging in Taylor’s neck. It’s great. “There are other relationships than sexual, agent.”

“Don’t try and get poetic on me,” Louis scoffs, tossing the file down. “We’re not writing a love story, here.”

“A very violent one,” Taylor amends after a moment, and Louis actually laughs at that. “We think Payne may have been encased in the ice after the crash in ‘45. She’s essentially been -”

“Defrosted,” Niall finishes for her. “That’s a serum thing, yeah? ‘Cause I don't think you could reheat me and have me pop out in full working order.”

“Cryogenics,” Louis supplies. “I’ve seen a few mock-ups in Russia. The serum allowed her body to be suspended in animation - her cells essentially froze and remained preserved.”

“When did you go to Russia?” Taylor asks suspiciously, then shakes her head. “No, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. But you’re right, Tomlinson.”

“Always am,” Louis answers sweetly, just to see Taylor frown at her. “Why do we have Payne anyway? Thought the Yanks would want her, being their poster girl and that. Why don’t we ship her over to the CIA?”

Taylor purses her lips and Louis smirks. She has no idea what Taylor did to get kicked out the CIA, but Louis’ certain they didn’t think her dismissal would end in Taylor setting up her own agency in England, of all places. The atmosphere was frosty to say the least when they had that conference with Director Gomez last year.

“Payne was originally from England,” Taylor explains, “her father was American and they moved over when she was young. Apparently she decided to come back.”

Louis cocks her head to one side. “Bullshit.”

Taylor’s eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”

Niall looks at Louis, then back to Taylor, then back to Louis. “Oh no.”

Louis tosses her hair back. “We’re not a charity. I’m supposed to believe you helped a defrosted pensioner out of the goodness of your heart?”

“SHIELD offers many rehabilitation facilities -” Taylor starts, but Louis cuts her off.

“It’s huge collateral damage. It’s transatlantic lawsuits. It’s PTSD with puppy eyes.” Louis can see Niall grinning from ear to ear in the other chair, but she ignores her. “So cut the crap and tell me why you’re really taking this on.”

Taylor looks at her for a long moment. “I don’t know why you don’t trust me - “

“Yes you do,” Niall and Louis chime, and Taylor exhales.

“She’s an asset,” Taylor says bluntly, and Niall winces.

Louis glances at her, chewing on the side of her cheek. Niall shuffles in her chair. “She’s a person -”

“She’s a highly skilled, genetically engineered, extremely talented asset,” Taylor says calmly. She looks completely composed, hands folded in her lap. “Having Payne as a member of SHIELD would be extremely profitable and advantageous. And quite frankly, her assistance is exactly what we need.”

“What does that mean?” Niall demands, fingers curling around her bow instinctively. “Oh god, is it the KGB? If it’s the KGB again I am retiring.”

Louis rolls her eyes. “I don’t think it’s the KGB.”

Niall pales. “Fuck. Is it the Irish?”

Louis stares at her. “Niall, you are Irish.”

“Exactly, so I know what little cunts they are.”

“It means it’s none of your business,” Taylor cuts in smoothly. “That’s not why I called you in.” Louis wants to point out that they barged in rather than answered a phone call, but the look Taylor gives her makes her shut her mouth with a click. “I need you to go visit Payne.”

Louis rolls her eyes. “Why?”

It’s not like part of her isn’t interested in seeing a melted super soldier. Even with her background, she’s heard of Captain America, the scrappy girl from Brooklyn who was the world’s biggest chorus girl, then flipped and took out a dozen Nazi bases.

It’s a good thing Louis’ as practised as she is: hearing that Payne survived after seventy years was pretty shocking. Louis doesn’t even want to think what a cock up this is going to be if they get into it.

It’s not that Louis’ cruel, but she’s learnt the hard way that affection is something you have to ration, divide into pieces and allot to those who deserve it. She has a grudging respect for Taylor, co-director Sophia isn’t that bad, and she’d fight till she was spitting blood if Niall was in danger.

She doesn’t have more to give - doesn’t want to give more. It’s not like she’s in the business to make friends. She knows Niall worries about her, but at the end of the day Louis’ a killer, not a social butterfly.

“I want to see her,” Niall grins, bouncing forward in her seat. “‘S like going to a museum, innit?”

Taylor looks at her like she’s grown another head. “Do not say that to her.”

Louis has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. “Are you sure you want us to go? Niall will probably tell her she smells like mothballs, then Payne will flip and knock her out.”

“You’re going,” Taylor says, voice like steel, leaving no room for argument. “Payne has expressed interest in working with SHIELD. The only division she isn’t going to horribly out-perform is yours, so play nice.”

Louis gapes at her. “Me and Niall are a unit, why do we need a fossil as a third wheel?”

“I’m not discussing this any further,” Taylor continues in the calm, measured voice that drives Louis up the wall. “I’ll make sure you get the address. Horan, do not take your bow, or I’ll stick you on filing for the next month.”

Taylor turns to her computer screen, a clear indicator that the meeting is over. Louis listens to the click, click, click of her ruby nails against the keyboard, then pushes her chair back. “Does it worry you that our version of playing nice is not bringing any noticeable weapons?”

Taylor sighs. “Don’t bring any concealed ones either.”

“Well now you’re just being ridiculous,” Louis snorts, and Taylor cracks a small smile. “See you later, boss.”

Taylor waves one hand like a queen, and Louis pulls the door shut with a snap.

 

 

-

 

 

Liam Payne is apparently residing in a shitty flat in the middle of London. The cool spring breeze slides under the collar of her shirt, cold fingers dancing under her skin. There are a few people milling about, a lady pushing a bag, an older man leaning on a cane, Tesco bag in his hand. Louis lets her eyes skate over them, then turns to Niall. 

“This is where America’s national treasure lives?” 

Niall shrugs. “I guess so.” 

Louis wrinkles her nose. “Her security is shit. Those windows? You could scale them in two minutes. I don’t think she has a doorman, but you could pretend to be a delivery guy. Or a salesman. Or the teenager from the flat below who lost his key. Don’t even get me started on the locks.” 

Niall hums thoughtfully. “You’re not going to do that thing, are you?” 

Louis blinks at her innocently. “What thing?” 

Niall rolls her eyes. “The thing where you push and push people until they explode so you then know whether to take cover or hurl a knife. Wind them up so that it’s on your terms, so that when they lose it you already have an escape plan or three.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Louis sniffs, and presses the button to the flat neatly labelled ‘Payne.’ Louis snorts at the immaculate writing; who the fuck uses their real name? She says as much to Niall, who replies, “people who have normal lives,” and looks at Louis weirdly. 

The door opens on the second ring, and Niall cranes her neck to get a better glimpse inside. Louis internally face palms. How the fuck Niall is so successful at covert ops, she will never know. 

Captain America opens the door and Niall shoves past her. “Hey, Cap, nice to meet you, do you have any biscuits?” 

Louis snickers at the back of Niall’s blond ponytail, then takes in the super soldier in front of her. Payne is surprisingly normal - and surprisingly fit. She has long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, and she’s in a slim sleeveless shirt and jogging bottoms. Her arms are bare and Louis lifts an eyebrow at the serious muscles this girl has, Christ. Louis wouldn’t surprised if she could lift Louis and throw her. 

“Um, hello,” Payne stammers, and Louis’ eyes snap from her biceps to where Payne is very clearly trying to not stare at her chest. “Do you - you’re from SHIELD, yeah?” 

Louis loves the easy ones. There’s no need to pin her to the floor to expose her soft underbelly - Payne will be rolling over and baring it for a rub without asking. Makes it easier to slit her open. 

Louis leans against the doorway, deliberately cocking her hip. She waits until Payne’s eyes flit to her face, then slowly wets her lips. “Hey, soldier.” 

Payne goes bright red and stutters something indiscernible. Louis makes sure to trail her fingers over Payne’s arm as she saunters past, pads just grazing the skin. She smirks at the way the other girl stiffens. She really loves the easy ones.

Her first observation of the place is that it’s clean. Abnormally so, as if the owner never got around to moving in. The surfaces are spotless, the walls white and unpainted. There are no photos, no paintings. Louis can’t see a single ornament or trinket. 

“You been here long?” Louis asks dryly, and smirks when Payne blushes. 

Niall is peering around the living room without shame. She runs one hand over the mantel piece, turning to Payne with bright eyes. “Are you really Captain America?” 

Payne rubs the palm of her hand on her neck sheepishly, the scarlet of her cheeks deepening. “Um, yeah. But it’s just Liam.” 

“Just Liam with regenerative healing and the strength of three men,” Louis interjects sweetly, and Payne - Liam - ducks her head. 

She can already see Niall fluffing up like a mother duck, staring at Liam with round eyes. Niall is kind, is the thing, a trait that doesn’t work well in their industry. Though, Niall is the progressive one - she shoots first, but may allow some questions while you’re bleeding out on the floor. 

“Do you want something to drink?” Liam mumbles, turning to the kitchen. Niall nods happily and settles into one of the chairs. Louis remains standing, leaning against the wall. 

Niall waits until Liam is safely in the kitchen, then lobs a coaster at Louis. “Stop being a prick.” 

Louis catches it, obviously, but she scowls on principle. “What was that for?” 

“The kid is a walking time bomb,” Niall snaps, “look at this place. It’s as if there’s no one living here. She’s woken up seventy years in the future, what do you think her mental state is like?” She wrinkles her nose. “I need to stop calling people our age ‘kids’.” 

Louis shrugs. “Age is relative.” 

Niall gazes at her then, bottom lip trembling, and Niall is the only one, _the only one_ , that can get away with looking at her like that. “We’re not all child assassins, Lou.” 

Louis swallows, her throat feeling rough like broken glass. “I know.” 

Niall opens her mouth, but then Liam comes bustling back in. She has a tray in her hands, and Louis marvels at the sight: the world’s greatest soldier holding three mugs of Earl Grey. “Um, I didn’t know if you wanted sugar or not.” 

“It’s perfect,” Niall says firmly, ignoring Louis’ eye roll. “So, Cap. How do you like London?” 

Louis’ not sure if Niall is doing this on purpose, but they’re slipping into their usual roles. Niall’s charming the mark, while Louis does recon. It works both ways of course - Louis’ not a stranger to the seduction technique - men are so weak honestly - but she’s not up to play host today. 

Instead she studies Liam, looks past the bravado and the jokes and the nervous trill of her laughter. Watches the way her thigh trembles imperceptibly, how there are lilac smudges under her eyes, the way her muscles lock up when Niall mentions something recent, and how her face then smoothes over like nothing’s happened. 

Niall’s joke peters out, and she gets up under the guise of needing the loo. Louis’ knows she’s really going to snoop around Liam’s place, so she turns her own attention to the other girl. 

“You’re the Black Widow,” Liam blurts suddenly, then looks horribly ashamed. She doesn’t take it back though, which is interesting. 

Louis deliberately crosses her legs, flexing the sharp bone of her ankle. “Read my file, have you?”

Her tone is razor sharp, but the reply seems to encourage Liam if anything. She sits forward in her own seat like an eager puppy. “I didn’t really meet any Ruskies - Russians, sorry, Russians, in the war.” 

“I’m not Russian,” Louis sighs, “I was - trained. In Russia.” 

“Oh.” Liam doesn’t seem to know what to say to that. “We were deployed to Czechoslovakia once. It was - cold.” 

Louis raises an eyebrow. “It’s not called that anymore. It split in 1993. It’s the Czech Republic now.” 

Liam deflates like a popped balloon. It’s as if all her strings have been cut; her shoulders curve in on themselves and the corners of her lips curl down. Shit. Louis isn’t equipped to deal with this. Missions she can do, targets she can do, exploitation and kidnapping and espionage she can do. Louis’ edges are held together by flimsy tape as it is, she can’t look after someone who is looking every bit as broken as Liam is right now. 

Liam recovers in rapid time, though. She slaps her mask back on with ease, big, puppy eyes swimming with good intentions. “So, a lady runs SHIELD now?” 

Louis blinks at her, momentarily taken aback. “Less of a lady and more of a shark, but yeah.”

Liam’s eyes widen in astonishment. “That’s brilliant.” 

Oh, period sexism. Louis forgot about that. Has no one created a 21st century starter pack for this girl? “Yeah, it is. Um. Contraception is a thing now, too. You can just go get it from the shop. And so is divorce. And equal pay, though that can be a bit hit and miss.” 

Liam looks overwhelmed. “So gals get paid the same amount as guys?” 

“Gals do,” Louis confirms, smile tugging at her lips. “Though sexism still creeps through the cracks. There are still those who cheat the system.” She hesitates. “Hasn’t anybody told you this?” 

Liam shrugs, the gesture so self-deprecating it makes Louis’ heart hurt. Which is bad, because Louis has been told on multiple occasions she doesn’t have a heart. There’s a betting pool within SHIELD about where she keeps the still beating remains. 

“Not many people around,” Liam mumbles, shaking her head. “Everyone’s well - dead. Or back in America.” She meets Louis’ gaze evenly, hazel eyes intense. “Too many ghosts, you know?” 

Louis understands that. There are places in the Sakha Republic, a few miles from Aldan River, that she can’t step foot on. She’d been sent on a mission there once, had taken it like an idiot because she felt she still had so much to prove. 

They’d had to send Niall in, it had been that bad. Louis had been crouched by a frozen river, staring at her hands and seeing nothing but crimson. Her thighs had been wrapped around Niall’s throat at the first brush of hands, but she’d snapped out of it. Eventually. Louis doesn’t understand the blind trust Niall has in her, but it’s mutual, so there’s that. 

“I get it,” she says crisply, biting out the words. She can feel her walls slotting back into place, the instinct to prod and poke until she can find a sore spot to manipulate. _Never make yourself vulnerable. Find your leverage_. “Do you think you should see a therapist or something? You have seventy years of damage to deal with.” 

She’s expecting Liam to lash out, tenses for it, but Payne just blinks then laughs. “Are you seeing one?” 

The question is unexpected and it rankles her. “I don’t think there’s a therapist in the world that would touch me.” 

“That’s what I’m here for,” Niall beams, wandering back in. The innocent expression on her face is deceptive as fuck. Liam smiles at her and Louis feels a petty surge of vindictiveness. “Isn’t that right, boo bear?” 

“Fuck off,” Louis says cooly, and Niall cackles. 

Liam watches the exchange with bright eyes. “Can I call you boo bear?” 

“Do you like your intestines inside your body?” Louis asks pleasantly, then keeps Liam’s gaze until she stops looking amused and more like she’s going to piss herself. The look of terror on Captain America’s face is extremely satisfying. 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

Niall waits until they’re back at her flat before she says anything. They’ve already debugged it, so it’s safe. (It had been a very enthusiastic debugging. Niall brought out some golf clubs she’d stolen from a Middle Eastern businessman. Louis had prefered to use a mallet. Taylor had stuck then on paperwork the next day, but Louis had seen her smiling as she turned away.) 

“So what do you think of Payne?” Niall asks breezily. She cracks a beer open with her teeth, making Louis wince.

Louis stabs her Chinese food moodily. “I think she isn’t field ready in the slightest."

Niall snorts, getting up to grab Louis her own drink. Niall’s flat is small and compact; no personal belongings for obvious reasons, but Louis can see her favourite purple hoodie thrown over one chair, her quiver resting in the hall, It’s as close to home as they’re going to get. 

“It’s not like we were,” Niall notes. She flops down onto the sofa, close enough that their thighs are touching. 

“Yeah, and how did that end up?” Louis asks wryly. “Remember Budapest?” 

“I can never forget Budapest,” Niall groans, and they both laugh. It feels nice, a little of the tension seeping out of the room. Louis wriggles so her toes are tucked under Niall’s thigh, lets herself enjoy this small contact. “I’m serious though, Lou. We have to help that girl.” 

“Remember the rules, Nialler,” Louis sings softly. She suddenly feels queasy. She puts down her fork, swallowing hard. “Don’t let people in. You only get hurt. I’ll only fuck it up.” 

It’s a testament to their friendship that Louis lets those words leave her mouth. They hang heavy in the air, like droplets of water on a spider web. She can taste bitter bile on her tongue and she battles against the urge to take them back. 

Niall shifts in her periphery. “Lou. We’ve talked about this. You did shitty things - “ 

“Killed people,” Louis intones, “killed people, Niall.” 

She can hear Niall exhale. “You were a kid. And you were brainwashed, and whether that excuses it is a different shit show, but you’ve changed. We’re making up for it. Stop patching yourself up only to rip yourself open again.” 

Louis shuffles, shaking her head slowly. “It’s just one long road of atonement, right?” 

Her voice trembles all the way through, shakes like the tremors wracking her body, and Niall slides an arm around her. Louis feels like she’s choking, as if there’s water in her lungs that’s rising and churning and trying to drown her. She gets like this sometimes, can’t fight the ghosts, can’t hit the demons, and it’s too much. 

“You’re okay,” Niall whispers, pulling her closer. “Lou, think who you were three years ago, and think who you are now. We’re not - maybe we’re not good, but we _try._ ” 

Louis closes her eyes and exhales slowly. She listens to the thump of her heart, counts the beats until she can breathe again. “You ever think about being a motivational speaker?” 

Niall snorts. “All the time.” 

Louis laughs and it snaps the spider web, the water falling harmlessly and splashing on the floor. Niall squeezes her shoulder once then pulls away, hands her the fallen fork and keeps eating. Louis appreciates the space, appreciates the attempt of normalcy, and Niall chatters on until her heart stops thumping.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Louis takes a job in Kazakhstan the next morning, because Louis is a dick whose flight instinct is constantly in overdrive. 

She and Niall fell asleep curled on the sofa like puppies. She let Niall sleep with her back to the door, and Niall had pressed a kiss to her hair. Sophia is surprised when Louis calls in, but gives her the coordinates without comment. 

The floor is cool under her bare feet as she slides into her uniform, tucks a slip blade into her shoe and straps another to her thigh. She hesitates by the door. Soft rays of sun spill through the flat, dancing over the planes of Niall’s face. 

She pauses, then scribbles a note saying she’s going to be away for a bit, then secures it to the fridge. Louis drops a kiss to Niall’s forehead, then tiptoes out of room.

Louis secured the note with an arrow, so Niall’s fridge is definitely fucked, but it’s the thought that counts.

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

She arrives back in London a week later. Her head is clearer, the cold thrill of an operation jolting her back to the present. The three stitches in her thigh help with the reboot too, Louis thinks wryly, biting her lip as she steps off the Quinjet. 

Sophia is waiting for her, looking unimpressed. She’s in a short navy dress, hair curled perfectly and tumbling down her back. “Tomlinson.” 

“Don’t make me do paperwork,” Louis sighs, stopping in front of her. “Please, Soph, I almost got my femur ripped out.” 

Sophia raises an eyebrow. “Were you doing something inappropriate and reckless at the time?” 

Louis purses her lips. In all fairness, she was only supposed to be trailing her mark, gathering intel. But then he’d tried to fuck over a young girl in one of the back alleys, and Louis had intervened. 

“I intervened.” 

Sophia’s eyebrows climb even higher. “And in what manner did you intervene?” 

“Gently,” Louis says defensively. Sophia clicks her tongue and Louis rephrases. “Gentle for me anyways. Which amounts to a broken wrist and a torn ligament.” 

Sophia sighs, and slaps a wad of paper against Louis’ chest. “Paperwork. Then you can skip off to see Hawkeye, okay?” 

Louis fucking hates paperwork. When she first joined SHIELD, she was so nervous that she spent hours on it. Terrified that if she misspelt a name they’d send her back, send her back to that, fingers slipping as they grasped the pen. 

Now, though, she and Niall are practically veterans, so Louis just bullies Ashton into doing it and skips off. It’s less bullying and more just looking at him until he cracks. 

She texts Niall asking her where she is, then frowns when she replies _at the museum_. It takes Louis a second, but then she realises Niall must be at Liam’s. Louis asks her why, and Niall says _why do you care, you were too busy playing cold war_ , so she’s definitely still a bit pissed about the fridge thing. 

She takes her time in walking to Liam’s flat. She loves the adrenalin of missions, that kick in your chest that resonates with the bang of a bullet, but it’s a small relief to be back on home soil. 

The sky is overcast, mottled grey with silvery clouds, and Louis breathes in deeply. Her thigh twinges slightly, but it’s a paper cut compared to previous injuries she’s sustained, so she ignores it. 

She considers pressing the buzzer, but Louis likes to fuck with people and besides, it’s not her fault if Liam doesn’t understand espionage etiquette. Picking the lock of Liam’s door is stupidly easy, and Louis pads through the hall like a cat. 

Louis’ not sure what she expected Niall and Liam to be doing. Maybe watching some shitty black and white movie. Maybe sparring, with the world’s greatest soldier trying not to snap Niall in half. A nature documentary seems a good bet. 

The last thing she expects to see is Hawkeye and Captain America avidly watching the latest episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians. 

“What,” Louis drawls, “are you doing?”

Liam jumps about a foot in the air. Niall doesn’t even flinch. “Hey, Lou. How was the South side?” 

Louis rolls her eyes. “What the hell are you doing?” 

“Niall offered to help me catch up with the future,” Liam explains. Her expression is a blend of hopeful and confused, like a puppy that knows you have a biscuit for them, but can’t see it in your back pocket. 

“By making you watch the Kardashians,” Louis says slowly. 

Niall shrugs. “Sophia sent over a bunch of files, but they looked really boring so I just showed Liam Netflix.” 

“Hello, Louis,” Liam says tentatively. She’s in a faded white shirt and jogging bottoms, hair pulled back into a golden wave. The bruises under her eyes are gone, Louis notes, but she doesn’t reply. 

Louis wanders over to the dining table, where there is indeed a bunch of SHIELD files. Louis picks one up and flicks through it aimlessly. “So you chose a reality TV show over say, the collapse of the Berlin Wall.” 

“Uh, yeah,” Niall says distractedly, “now shut up, Kylie is about to flip out on Kendall.” 

“It’s okay, we went to a couple of museums as well,” Liam pipes out. She’s looking at Louis with a strange expression, eyes lingering on her cheek. “You er - have a bit of - “ 

“Ugh, is it blood again?” Louis gripes, rubbing her cheek furiously. Her knuckles come back speckled with crimson. “God, I hate it when that happens.” 

Liam looks about three seconds away from an asthma attack. “Oh. Are you - where did you go?” 

Louis snorts. “It’s cute you think I’m going to answer that.” 

Liam inhales sharply, and Niall glowers at Louis from the sofa. And the thing is, Louis knows she’s being a bitch, she knows this unbridled hostility is out of line but - this isn’t a fucking sleepover. They’re assassins. And Liam is PTSD wrapped up in a pretty package. She doesn’t get why Niall is trying to forget that. 

“What is your problem?” Liam snaps, and Louis feels every one of her hackles go up. It’s like now that she’s got a reaction, she can’t help herself, venom and vitriol and anger tumbling out. 

“My problem is we’re acting like this is a happy family,” Louis answers flatly. “You shouldn’t - you shouldn’t even be here. You’re seventy years out of date and SHIELD thinks they can just throw you straight back in?” 

 _You shouldn’t even be here_ hits Liam like a bullet. Louis can see the moment it implodes, the way pain ripples across her body, hurt spiralling over her skin. Louis swallows the bitter taste on her tongue, hands going automatically to her gun. 

“We don’t need you,” Louis continues. “We’re doing just fine on our own.” 

“Louis,” Niall snaps, tone sharp. “Louis, stop it.” 

Louis doesn’t even look at her, too busy staring down Liam. She feels sick, feels her stomach churn but she can’t - she can’t fucking lose Niall. She knows it’s sick, possessive, but you don’t save someone’s life over and over and cement it with a friendship bracelet. Louis hasn’t got time to look after anyone else - hasn’t get the strength. 

Liam’s hands are trembling; Louis can see the way they’re shaking. The tension lies between them, thick and stifling like a blanket of snow over new flowers. 

“I’m going for a walk,” Liam says finally. Her tone is blank, empty. No inflection. “And when I come back, I think you should leave.” 

Liam walks out then, turns on her heel and leaves. She doesn’t slam the door, doesn’t kick the table, doesn’t do anything, just abandons the flat and everyone in it. 

Niall stares at her. “Louis, that - that was out of line. Why did you say that?”

“I don’t -” The words get stuck on her tongue, the confession choking her. “Niall, I can’t -”

Niall doesn’t even look angry anymore. She looks disappointed, and it hits Louis like a punch to the stomach. “You can’t pull stunts like that, Louis. You don’t know how far that may have set Liam back, she’s a fucking mess.”

“Well, you would know,” Louis snaps, and it sounds petty and jealous to her own ears. 

Niall’s eyes are icy. “When you stop being such a cunt, come let me know, alright? And fucking apologise to Liam.” 

She storms out and then it’s just Louis. Just Louis in this fucking tomb of a flat. She waits a few minutes before she leaves, but slamming the door only makes her feel worse.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

_snow. snow and ice and cold, cold rivers._

_the woman with the sharp nails and white teeth keeps telling her to be quiet. louis doesn’t like her. louis wants to go home. only there is no home. just the orphanage with ladies whose words don’t make sense._

_she opens her mouths and no words coming out, her screams stolen by the frozen wind_

 

 

 

 

-

 

Taylor calls her into work the next morning. 

Louis had spent all night wracked by nightmares, so she’d forgone pretending to sleep in favour of ripping apart targets at the gun range. Sophia had messaged her as she was on target number seven, so she trails up to Taylor’s room with a smoking Glock 26 in hand. 

Taylor doesn’t even look bothered when she drops it on her desk. “I suppose it’s too much to ask you not to take that home.” 

Louis drops down into one of the chairs. “The shell ejection on that is shit. You should fire the head of ammunitions.” 

“You sound like Horan,” Taylor says lightly, then gives Louis a look like she knows everything. She probably does. If she didn’t, you’d never get it out of her anyway. 

“So, what are we discussing this morning?” Louis asks sweetly, leaning forward and resting her head on her hands. “The staff Christmas party?” 

“Don’t be silly, that’s for next month’s agenda,” Taylor deadpans. “I was thinking of putting you on the decorations committee.” 

“If you want your decorations to be glocks and hand grenades, then sure.” 

The corner of Taylor’s mouth twitches. “I need to know how your assignment is going.” 

Louis wrinkles her nose. “The buddy system assignment??” 

Taylor sighs then, likes she holds the weight of the world in her manicured hands. “Have you heard about Agent Nelson’s condition?” 

“Yeah, she nearly got shot in the head,” Louis frowns, shaking her head. She likes Jesy; she doesn’t ask too many questions and she once stole Louis some morphine when she was banged up from Istanbul. “Wasn’t it some random KGB agent? Some sloppy shooter who looked down his own barrel straight after?” 

“We’re not so sure it was a misfire,” Taylor says slowly. “We think it was a warning.” 

“From the KGB?” Louis snorts, “seriously? Don’t tell Niall, she’ll burst into tears.” 

“No, not the KGB.” 

Louis stares at her. “Well, who then?” 

Taylor looks at her coolly. “That’s classified.” 

Ugh, Louis fucking hates it when Taylor goes all suave and mysterious. “You know I could just hack into those oh-so-classified files and find out who’s got you creeped out.” 

Taylor shakes her head. “No, you won’t, because you have something more important to do. Specifically, mend your bridges with Liam Payne.” 

Louis fixes a bored expression on her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“I’m not joking around, Tomlinson,” Taylor answers, and her voice is hard as steel. Louis snaps to attention, back straightening at the edge to her words. Taylor looks imposing like this, in her Marc Jacobs shift dress and the world at her fingertips. “That shooter was a domino, a chain reaction that will go on and on.” 

Louis feels apprehension burn in her stomach, flash and ignite like oil in a pan. “What are you talking about?” 

“We don’t know yet. But when we do, we’re going to need a response unit. And you, Payne and Horan are going to be on it. Are we clear?” 

Her toes curl in her boots and Louis breathes in, lets sweet oxygen fill her lungs. It’s not fear spreading through her, not the ice cold burn of terror, but rather the slow slide of anticipation, every switch being flicked as she prepares herself for a fight. 

“This is big, isn’t it?” Louis murmurs, and feels her heart sink to her boots when Taylor nods imperceptibly. “I guess I better go play nice then, shouldn’t I?” 

“Close the door on you way out,” is all Taylor answers, and Louis has to applaud her for the way her voice doesn’t tremble one bit.  

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

 

She goes to see Niall first, because Louis is going to do her job, but she’s also going to do it on her own terms. 

Niall opens the door in a tank with too large arm holes and tiny denim shorts. Her blonde hair is pulled into a messy bun with tendrils curling around her face. She also has a split lip and black eye, her left eye just one large, violet smudge. 

“You should put ice on that,” Louis says after an awkward silence, and Niall just snorts and leaves the door open. 

Louis trails to the fridge, grabbing an ice pack from the top shelf. She hands it to Niall, who slaps it to her eye. Louis traces the crimson stains of Niall’s lips, before clearing her throat. “So. Um. Sorry for being a dick.” 

Niall sighs. “Not me you need to apologise to, mate.” She moves the pack a little, the top of her cheekbone just glinting purple. “You know I’m never going to leave you, yeah?” 

Louis squirms in her seat. “It’s not that. I - I don’t think I can take on someone else, Niall. Look at me, I’m a mess as it and Payne -” She coughs. “You’ve read her files. That girl fought fucking Nazis. I can’t fuck that up. It’s - I can’t pretend this is a girl band or something.” 

Niall grins at that, teeth white against her pale skin. “Just as well, you can’t carry a tune to save your life.” 

“Hey,” Louis snaps indignantly, and feels her nerves soothe over when Niall laughs out loud. “Says you, singing Dirty Old Town in the shower isn’t exactly Beyonce.” 

Niall laughs louder, then winces. “Ah, shit, my lip fucking kills.” 

Louis raises an eyebrow. “How did you do that?” 

“Sparring with Bressie,” Niall mumbles. She doesn’t meet Louis’ eyes; Niall always spars with Bressie when her and Louis fall out. Probably because Bressie is built like a tank and she can let everything out without causing any real damage. “Lou, I’m serious. It’s time to move on. We’ve been doing missions together for three years -” 

Louis lifts her head in alarm, and Niall slides off her seat, pads across the floor and squeezes her hand. “Hey, all I’m saying is, would letting someone else in be so bad?” 

“Yes,” Louis replies petulantly, and Niall laughs and pulls her in for a hug. Louis stiffens at the initial contact, but then relaxes. She slides her arms around the other girl, feels the calluses of her hands loop around Louis’ neck. Niall is skinny as anything, the ladder of her ribs pressing against Louis’ sternum, but she can feel the firm muscles there. 

“We don’t have much choice anyway,” Louis mutters, and Niall leans back, brows furrowed in confusion. “I had a meeting with the big boss today.” 

Niall pulls away with a final squeeze. “Shit, she didn’t ask you where all arrows from the range have gone, did she?” 

Louis blinks, then decides not to ask. “No, she didn’t, and I have no idea what you’re talking about, so. Let’s leave it that way.” 

Niall beams. “Thanks, babe. What did Swifty want?” 

“Said something big was coming,” Louis snorts. “Proper mysterious and shit. Felt like I was in a Harry Potter film.” 

Niall rolls her eyes. “Yeah, but ain’t she always like that? Edwards told me last week her debrief was full of quotes about ‘bad blood’, whatever that means.” 

“I think she just likes to mess with us,” Louis says honestly. “But no, I think it may be serious this time.” 

Louis can tell Niall catches the way nerves bleed into her tone, because she stops smiling. “It was about Jesy’s shooting.” 

“Nelson?” Niall asks, pursing her pink lips. “Shit, I heard about that. Jesy’s a good agent. Some sniper missed his shot then blew his brains out, yeah?” 

Louis cringes at the wording, but nods. “They’re thinking it wasn’t so accidental. That it was a warning.” 

“From who?” Niall looks genuinely baffled. “SHIELD has enemies, yeah, but they’re normally more direct than a little misfire.” 

“I don’t know,” Louis shrugs, “neither does Taylor. We’re all completely incompetent, apparently.” 

The ice pack slides out of Niall’s hands, and she dumps it on the tabletop. “So how bad are we thinking?” 

Louis recalls the steely look in Taylor's eye. "Um, Budapest bad. And she wants me, you and Liam as the response unit when the shit hits the fan." 

Niall winces. “Fuck.”

Louis drags her hands through her hair, wincing as she yanks on the knots. “I know.” 

Niall exhales loudly. She presses her tongue to the flesh of her cheek, then snaps her head up. “Well, you know what you have to do.” 

“What?” 

“Go over there and making Payne a fucking friendship bracelet,” Niall orders, crossing her arms. “Or buy her a fruit basket. Or a season’s pass to the National History Museum. I don’t care what you do, if Taylor’s freaking out then having a super soldier on our side can’t hurt.” 

“She’d do it without all that,” Louis complains. “Liam looks like she’d faint if you flashed your ankles.” 

Niall snickers, shaking her head. “She’s from the ‘40s, not the Victorian era. Payne’s actually all right you know. Educating her is great.” 

“Watching trashy reality shows is great, you mean.” 

Niall rolls her eyes. “Don’t underestimate me, babe. I took her to some museums, I showed her how to use the internet, and I brought her half of the books from The Guardian’s ‘books to read before you die' list.” 

Louis raises an eyebrow. “You bought them?” 

“Well, SHIELD did,” Niall smirks. “Liam’s cool, but Taylor still sicced me on babysitting. You can pay for the high chair and the cot.” 

Louis snorts. “I don’t think that’s how the metaphor works.” 

Niall shrugs. “Whatever. And stop deflecting, go talk to Captain America, please.” 

Louis inhales, letting the cold burst of air dance in her lungs. She feels better for telling Niall, feels her stomach settle as the threads of their friendship pull together. Niall holds out her hand, and Louis squeezes it once before dropping it between them. “Time to go.” 

“Time to go,” Niall echoes, and this time Louis leaves with a smile on her face.

 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

She loiters outside Liam’s house like a naughty kid, who doesn’t want to go home because she knows her Mum is going to tell her off. 

Which doesn’t fit with Louis’ portfolio at all. Louis has crushed a man’s trachea with her bare thighs, she doesn’t skulk outside like a kicked cat. 

She almost breaks in again - so, so pitifully easy - but then realises that may not resonate with the feeling of goodwill she’s trying to promote. Liam opens the door slowly, her eyes are guarded, hazel eyes laced with suspicion. 

“Hey, soldier,” Louis intones, a tired ghost of her greeting that first day. Louis has meant it as a joke, but it falls flat, because Liam’s face shuts down like a switch has been flipped. 

“Come in,” Liam says tersely. That’s probably as mean as Liam gets. Offers you into her home with a scowl on her face. Hardcore. 

She patters after her. The flat is as immaculate as ever. Louis bets she could run her finger along the mantelpiece and not find a single speck of dust. Liam makes her a cup of tea grudgingly, then they both settle in chairs opposite themselves. 

Liam sits like a soldier, Louis notes. The other side of her brain won’t switch off - cataloging every movement, recording every behaviour. Liam sits with her back straight, hands placed neatly in her lap. She also curves her shoulders in, hunches down like she isn’t used to being this size. It makes sense, considering how small Liam was before the serum. 

Niall told her once she sits like a cat. Lazy and languid, but ready to jump at any second and claw you across the face. Louis takes it as a compliment. 

Louis takes a sip of her tea, placing it down on the saucer with a soft chink. Even now she can’t help herself, can’t stop playing the game, and in the end, Liam is the one who snaps. “What are you doing here?” 

Louis gazes at her. “I’m sorry for snapping at you the other day.” 

For a brief instant relief flashes across Liam’s face, but then her expression darkens. “No, you’re not.” 

Louis raises an eyebrow, but nods consideringly. “No. You’re right. I’m not.” 

Liam huffs, hands curling into fists. “Then why did you say it?” 

Louis appraises Liam carefully. “That’s what I do, Payne. It’s what I was trained to do. Paint on the lipstick, slip on the mask, slide on the ring and dance across the hall. Be whoever my mark wants me to be. Play my part so well, that by the end they don’t know where I begin and the truth ends.” 

Liam’s bottom lip trembles. “What about telling the truth?” 

It’s those uttered words that break Louis. They hit her like a punch to the stomach, like a hard shove to the chest as she goes spiralling backwards. 

“This isn’t the right industry for honesty, kid,” Louis answers, and it should scare her how broken she sounds. 

“What if it was?” Liam replies, desperation and hope and fury and loneliness all blended into one. 

Louis can feel her fingers twitching. “Have you ever heard of the Red Room?” 

The name feels like poison on her tongue, acid dripping into her mouth. Liam fidgets. “Um. I don’t think so.” 

Louis smiles, a slash of sharp teeth. “It was a Soviet brainwashing and training programme. They recruited me.” The word lies heavy in her mouth, the falseness of it thick like blood. Liam doesn't look convinced she was ‘recruited’ either, but it’s better than the dark fog of memories that threatens to choke Louis’ lungs. “The schedule was... strenuous. Hand to hand combat, tactical skills, weapons training. Intensive espionage instruction.” 

Liam’s mouth is hanging open, eyes wide in her pale face. “How old were you?” 

Louis shrugs. “Old enough. They got you young. Meant you were easier to manipulate.” 

Liam swallows thickly. “Your file said you used to work for the KGB.” 

“Sweetheart, my file says a lot of things,” Louis smirks, running her tongue over her lips. “I worked for the KGB, yes. I worked for a lot of people.” _Killed a lot of people. Spit it out, Tomlinson_. “By the time SHIELD found me, I had made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set and I didn’t care who I used it for.” 

“They eventually sent Niall to take me out. Apparently half the reason it took so long was because my reputation was so - interesting.” _the black widow. as clever as the devil and twice as pretty._ “Niall was supposed to shoot me. She made a different call.” 

Liam nods, then nods again. “When was this?” 

“Three years ago,” Louis answers softly, “almost four. I’ve been working for SHIELD ever since.” 

“And you and Niall, you work together?” Liam queries. She looks completely rapt, eyes trained on Louis’. Louis flicks over them to see if there’s any resentment, judgement, but she can just see patience. A tempered curiosity. “You’re like - a team?” 

“We work together,” Louis answers succinctly. Then, less succinctly, “Covert ops, usually. A lot of undercover work. We’re the ones SHIELD sends in when it gets really nasty.” 

Liam digests this. Louis can see her face working over, muscles ticking. “They brainwashed you?” 

Louis closes her eyes briefly. “Yes.” _they took me out of my head and left someone else to play with it._

Liam bounces up in her chair. “Louis, it wasn’t your fault - “ 

“I’m not something you can fix,” Louis snarls, slamming her hand down on the side of the chair. Liam physically flinching, jerking her head back. “I don’t have time for Captain America’s saviour complex. This isn’t about what happened to me.” 

“Then why did you tell me all that?” Liam snaps, eyes blazing with anger. 

“Because you need to know,” Louis explains through gritted teeth. “You have to understand if this is going to work.” 

Liam frowns, lips curling down in confusion. “What are you talking about? Working at SHIELD? Taylor sent me some files -" 

“Sent you files or told you what was really going on?” 

Liam chews on her bottom lip. “I heard about what happened to Jesy -" 

Louis shakes her head. “Wait, you don’t even work for SHIELD yet, how do you even know Jesy’s name?” 

Liam rubs the back of her neck with one hand. “I, um. Thought it would be nice to meet the people that I was going to work with.” 

Christ. Louis throws knives at people and Liam putters around an espionage agency shaking hands and sharing cupcakes. “Oh my god. This is going to end so badly.” 

Liam snorts. “Well, we’re not exactly natural friends.” She clicks her tongue, expression wistful. “The soldier and the spy.” 

Louis settles back into her chair. “Yeah, well super serum or not, you’re not exactly my first choice.” 

Liam pouts, as that had actually offended her, not the fact Louis grew up with a AK40 for a rattle. “What? Why?” 

Louis raises an eyebrow. “Liam, you were supposed to die seventy years ago. You crashed a plane into frozen wastelands and somehow managed to walk away from it. The amount of emotional baggage you’re carrying couldn’t fit in a jumbo jet.” 

“Says you,” Liam shoots back in, and Louis smirks at the sudden hint of fire. 

“Oh please, shouldn’t you check yourself into the nearest therapist? Demolishing a punch bag is one thing, but how would you handle a real fight?” 

“I could handle it,” Liam snaps, “don’t act like -" 

“And what about when someone shoves an iPhone in your hand?” Louis completely runs over what Liam was going to say, tone deliberately bored. “Or asks you for your Instragram? Are you going to freak and start crying for the '40s?” 

“I would -" Liam pauses, eyebrows crinkling together. “Okay, so I’m not sure what any of those things are, but I’m not going to - to cry. I was born in the Great Depression, I can handle an - an ePhone - “ 

Louis feels her lips curve upwards. “Well, at least I know you’re a fighter.” 

Liam blinks at her, mouth moving but no words coming out. “Wait - what?” 

“If we weren’t on the same side, I would have peeled out your trachea with my thumbs by now,” Louis says pleasantly. Liam chokes on her sip of tea. “Would have disarmed you with a shot to the knee cap, maybe both, probably just one. Boot to the face while you’re still on the floor, maybe one to the throat just to be sure.” 

Louis gives Liam a lazy once over. “You are Captain America, so you’ve probably struggled to you feet by now. I’d hit you with a double leg grapple, use my weight to throw you to the ground - only you’re heavier, so that’s going to be a nasty fall for you. You’d be unconscious, but I like I challenge, so I’d wait for you to come round, then,” Louis shrugs daintily, "bye bye trachea.” 

She can actually see the whites of Liam’s eyes. “Um. I would prefer it if you didn’t do that. Please.” 

Louis bares her teeth. “I’m just saying, a couple of years ago that would have been my way of finding your pressure points. Now I just wind you up until you spout some patriotic bullshit.” 

“Wait - what?” Liam looks like a smacked puppy, all big, reproachful eyes and sulky pout. “That’s why you were saying all those things about why you didn’t want to work with me? To see how I would react?” 

“Yeah. Old way is more fun.” Louis taps her nails against the arm of the chair. “Harder to clean up blood than tears, though.” 

Liam looks utterly befuddled. “So that was like - a test?” 

“It was whatever you want it to be,” Louis sighs. Payne is so different to her - Louis’ learnt to keep all her feelings in, tape them down and shut the locks, settle into her mask and bleed the emotions of her cover story instead. Liam’s expression is a perfect picture of what she’s feeling. She’d probably show Louis her still beating heart if she asked nicely. “All I’m saying is we have different fighting styles, but it’s going to have to work somehow.” 

“I was never going to let personal conflicts affect our mission,” Liam replies, looking distinctly offended, which confirms all of Louis’ suspicions about Captain America. “It’s crucial to rise above all that, a team with tension will never perform well and -" 

“Yeah, cut the rousing speech,” Louis sighs, waving one hand in the air. “I’m a killer. You’re America’s poster girl. Niall’s a nut job who someone let have a bow. And we’re SHIELD’s first guinea pigs. Great.” 

Liam nods her head seriously. “Tomlinson, I would never have let our spat affect how we performed. Especially considering the severity of the situation.” Liam cocks her head. “Um, apart from the files, I don’t know much at all..." 

“Right, so there’s the first rule: never tell anyone that,” Louis sighs. “What the hell did they teach you in the army?” 

Liam blinks, then grins suddenly. It’s beaming, blinding, and Louis can half see why she why Liam was a regular pin up in the barracks. “To follow orders mostly. And that little girls shouldn't play dress up.” 

Louis raises an eyebrow. “And what did you say to that?” 

Liam shrugs nonchalantly. “Didn’t have to say much, the burning Nazi camp was a pretty good answer.” 

Louis laughs then, honest-to-god cracks up, for what feels like the first time in ages. Liam looks inordinately pleased, eyes glowing in pride. “Huh. That’s vaguely hardcore.”

“Vaguely?” Liam scoffs, “it was _Nazis_.”

Louis shakes her head. “That saving the world shit doesn’t wash with me. I’ve seen Niall crawl across broken glass with her intestines in one hand, and claim she doesn’t need the med bay. We had to knock her out with horse tranquilliser in the end.”

Liam laughs, then squints her eyes at Louis. “Are you joking?”

Louis shrugs. “You’ll never know. Good talk, Cap.”

She stands up and Liam immediately copies her. Liam’s fingers go to her shirt, twisting the fabric round and round. “I’ll guess I’ll see you if the thing I actually knows lots about happens.”

Louis shrugs. “I’ll see you before that. I’ve bugged your flat.”

Liam laughs for about half a minute, then freezes. “Wait - really?”

“Bye, Cap,” is all Louis says before she lets the door close in Liam’s worried face. Something warm drips through her bones, settles in her spine like liquid gold, and she allows herself a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so here is chapter two! thank you so much to my lovely betas and to the gorgeous Marta for fic edits :)
> 
> yes, you get to meet Harry in this chapter :D

“Punch me in the face.”

Liam’s bottom lip wobbles. “Um - no?”

Oh for God’s sake.

They’re all in SHIELD’s gym, surrounded by crisp white walls and long lines of silver. There’s every exercise machine possible and monitors on the walls to measure your heart rate, simulation rooms and a gun range.

Liam had forgone all the shiny things for the more traditional boxing ring. She’s in running trousers and a cut off running shirt that shows her tanned abdomen. Her muscles physically ripple. Louis can’t believe she actually works with these people.

“Just do it,” Louis orders, widening her stance and bringing her fists up. “I promise I won’t cry.”

Liam sinks her white teeth into her bottom lip. She doesn’t look uncomfortable exactly - she’s in an easy enough position that she could move first, but her fists are down, hands hanging loosely by her side. “I just - what if I hurt you?”

Niall cackles from her perch on top of the training mats, where she's examining one of her arrows. “You won’t. I would take the opportunity, Cap, you’ll never get it again.”

Liam looks alarmed at that, so she hasn’t acclimatised to Niall and Louis yet. Louis just rolls her eyes at Niall and turns back to the other girl. “Look, I’m the only one you’re going to be able to spar with.”

Liam wrinkles her nose. “Why?”

“Because I’m the only one who won’t treat you like a pussy,” Louis sighs, and Niall cracks up. “Everyone at SHIELD is going to act like you’re made of glass. Never mind you survived the Depression, or fought Nazis, or crashed a plane into the Arctic. You’re from the forties, everyone is just going to assume you’re a straight-laced, emotionally repressed virgin who is going to break down at the sight of a selfie stick.”

“Don’t ask what that is,” Niall cuts in, waving a hand. “You don’t need to know.”

Liam scowls. “Is that what everyone thinks?”

Louis shrugs. “You’re also a national treasure. There’s that. No one wants to break America’s favourite toy.”

“And probably because you’re a girl,” Niall calls, “we still get that.”

Louis clicks her fingers. “Oh yeah. Did you see hear what Ben said to Sophia the other day?”

Niall’s hands still on her arrow. “I fucking hate Winston. Taylor was in a conference with the DGES the other day and they made a crack about the length of her skirt.”

Louis lets out a low whistle. “I guess we won’t be working with France any time soon.”

“Non,” Niall says, because she is an idiot, and immediately bursts into laughter. Louis often thinks that Niall’s hysterical response to everything is due to job stress. Although, Louis sleeps with a knife under her pillow, so she can’t really talk.

Louis flexes her fingers, bringing her arm up into a defensive pose. “I’m not going to underestimate you. Not because you’re a girl, or because you’re a super soldier, or because you’re ninety five. Because if you underestimate people, you get killed. And I’ve worked too hard to make such a rookie mistake.”

Liam looks a bit more settled at that, but she doesn’t correct her stance. “But what if I - "

Louis counts to three, then kicks her straight in the chest.

It’s a good kick, flat foot straight to the sternum. Liam spirals backwards, arms pin-wheeling, but she doesn’t topple over. Louis guesses that’s a serum thing, the way Liam doesn’t fall, the way her body snaps to attention, muscles acting without her thinking.

Liam comes forward then, swings for Louis’ cheek. She’s clearly not trained, but her fist is going to fucking hurt, so Louis ducks the blow. She aims a quick kick to Liam’s knee cap, and Liam wobbles, but is up within seconds.

It’s becomes _fun_ after that. Most of the SHIELD agents are too scared to fight Louis properly, and she and Niall know each other too well for either of them to really _win_. Liam has raw power, and Louis can feel herself grinning, feel her adrenalin soar at how well matched they are. Louis isn’t afraid to be underhand, at one point she has her thighs wrapped around Liam’s throat, but she laughs out loud even as Liam flips her straight over her head.

It ends with Liam standing above her, Louis sprawled on her back. Liam is barely breaking a sweat, but her chest is heaving. Liam opens her mouth, but abruptly shuts it as she gazes down at Louis.

Louis smirks as she realises the position she’s in. Steadily, she slides her hand under the waistband of her training trousers. She lets her fingers skate under the fabric, tantalizingly slow. Liam’s eyes widen, and Louis smirks as she watches her nostrils flare.

“Hey soldier,” Louis breathes, knowing she sounds like she’s just being fucked, knowing she sounds completely indecent. Liam is transfixed, cheeks flushing with colour. Louis arches her hips up, lets out a little whimper as her fingers trace her clit. Liam’s lips part.

“Sucker,” Louis snickers, then kicks Liam’s legs out from beneath her and laughs when she crashes to the mat.

They both lie there, curled up like commas. Louis closes her eyes, smiling as the chemicals rush through her bloodstream. She hasn’t laughed like that for ages. “That was cheating,” Liam mumbles after a moment, and Louis _howls_.

Liam looks totally perplexed. She offers Louis a hand up, and Louis slides her palm against Liam’s warm one. “You don’t completely suck, Payne.”

She wipes her mouth with her hand, reaching down to grab an energy drink. Niall slides off the mats, sauntering over. “Come on, Leeyum, my turn now.”

Liam looks a little like she’s been hit by a truck. “I don’t get it.”

“You’re not meant to,” Niall sighs, “she’s weird. Let me show you the archery range.”

Louis leads the way, lips wrapped around her drinks bottle, and makes sure to swing her hips.

 

 

*

 

 

Liam doesn’t look any more at ease when they get to the archery range. Niall speaking to each bow like it’s a Labrador puppy probably doesn’t help.

“Have you ever used a bow before?” Niall asks, brimming in excitement. Despite Louis’ protests, she’s got out all the archery kit they have, and is sitting happily in the middle of it. It’s like a kid surrounded by the new lego they got for Christmas, only they’re deadly weapons. And Niall is a master assassin. But you know. Semantics.

“No,” Liam replies slowly, eyes dancing over the various bows. “We didn’t use them in the army. I had the shield, and after that it was mainly hand to hand combat.”

“What did they let you train with?” Louis asks, leaning against the wall. “Can’t imagine they were overly pleased to have a girl on the army base.”

“I wasn’t meant to be there, was I?” Liam shrugs. “So that’s how they treated me. Like an inconvenience.“ Liam swallows, and Louis can see the way her jaw ticks. “Like an abomination.”

“You were a nurse on the project, right?” Louis asks gently, and she’s asking this time. Not demanding, like she would have before. “But the original candidate died before he could be injected.”

“They shot him,” Liam answers softly, voice hushed.

She’s staring at her feet, at the Nike Air Maxes Niall had given her. It had taken them half an hour to explain all the different shoe brands and Liam had got really excited that Adidas was still around. She’d said she’d watched Jessie Owens win four gold medals wearing them on her crackly TV in 1936.

“Sneakers,” Liam had corrected, eyes shining, and Niall had rolled her eyes and told her ‘coming from the 40s was no excuse for that American slang.’

Somehow, Louis doesn’t think Liam is thinking about that now.

“You don’t have to sugar-coat it,” Liam continues, in that same, soft tone. Louis can feel her stomach churn. “I grew up in Brooklyn, it _happened_. And we didn’t live in the nicest spot, so it’s not like fellas never got shot. I just - never saw it happen in front of my own eyes.”

Louis crosses her arms, watching the hard lines of Liam’s face, the way her eyes are centuries old. “And you decided to take his place?”

“Someone had to,” Liam answers, and when she meets Louis’ eyes, her gaze burns. “I couldn’t - I wouldn’t let it go to waste. To just throw away what Dr Erskine had worked on, what An - “

Her voice cracks on Andy’s name, and Louis looks away. Her heart is pounding in her chest, blood rushing in her ears. Louis’ heard worse - Louis’ lived worse - but it’s not a game, this life. It chews you up and spits you out, and everyone gets burnt. Even if you’re nowhere near the fire.

“I’m sorry,” Louis murmurs, and sees all the fight drain out of Liam’s body. She brushes past her, reaching for a quiver. “Want to see Niall blow shit up?”

Laughter bubbles from Liam’s lips, low and throaty. They all pretend they can’t see the way her eyes glisten. “You mean shoot things, right? I didn’t think the archery course had much room for pyromaniacs.”

“You’ve clearly never seen The Hunger Games,” Niall snorts, delicately picking her way through the floor. Louis sees the way Niall trails her fingers over Liam’s arm, a silent reassurance, a way of saying _I’m_ _here_ , without any words. “Wait, of course you haven’t. That’s this side of the 21st century.”

“You’re not Katniss,” Louis tells her firmly. She raises an eyebrow when Niall pouts at her. “Don’t even start, Horan. We’ve been over this.”

“Um, who’s Katniss?” Liam asks tentatively, and Louis slaps a hand over Niall’s mouth.

“Nobody important,” Louis answers sharply, glaring at Niall. “Don’t listen to anything Niall says. Let's just shoot.”

Niall mutters something that sounds suspiciously like ‘for Panem’ and reaches for a quiver. 

 

 

*

 

 

Half an hour later, Liam’s jaw is hanging open and the archery course is in tatters.

“They’re arrows that - blow up,” Liam croaks, staring at the still smoking targets. “How does that even work?”

“Incendiary arrows,” Niall shrugs nonchalantly, even though her cheeks are flushed with pleasure. “And I’ve got ones that release tear gas, and these ones where you shoot them and they latch onto a computer, and - "

“No one cares,” Louis sing songs, and Niall shoves her in the shoulder. “You’re practically foaming at the mouth.”

“You never missed,” Liam continues, staring at Niall in wonder. “Not once. I’ve never seen anyone do that - now with a bow, anyway.”

Niall shrugs again, but Louis can tell she’s pleased, cheeks ruddy and eyes sparkling. Louis is reminded how young she is; Niall’s barely 20, as is Louis, and she forgets it when they’re jumping off ten storey buildings or breaking into the offices of politicians. “Natural talent, bro. I’ve always been able to do it.”

“It’s amazing,” Liam breathes, and she’s so damn sincere it takes Louis aback. “I can see why SHIELD recruited you.”

“Speaking of.” Niall squints at the flames that are still burning brightly. “I’m not actually supposed to demonstrate those arrows. Taylor banned me from touching them after the last incident.”

Liam gapes at her. “You’re not supposed to use them? Are we going to get in trouble?”

Louis stretches languidly. “Nah. Let’s just walk out casually then tell Ashton he’s needed urgently in the archery range.”

Niall nods thoughtfully. “Sounds legit.”

“But shouldn’t we - " Liam begins, but Niall cuts her off.

“Liam, you’re Captain America,” Niall says, very slowly and patiently, as if talking to a tiny child. “No one is going to tell you off. You are literally the paragon of virtue and respect. No one is going to believe you set the archery range on fire.”

Liam wrinkles her nose. “But I didn’t set it - “

“That’s a good girl,” Louis says briskly, looping her hand around Liam’s wrist and tugging her along. “Let’s go hack SHIELD’s secure files.”

 

*

 

 

Liam peers suspiciously at her cup. “Are you sure this is coffee?”

Louis snorts. “Well, I was going to get you a skinny Americano with wings, but I’m not that mean.” She nudges her foot against Liam’s. “Americano because you’re Captain America, and with wings because of those stupid things painted on your helmet.”

She and Liam are nestled in a little corner of the coffee shop near Liam’s house. It’s quaint, smooth, round tables with comfy chairs, bright art hanging on the walls and large, clear windows. Louis isn’t huge fan of those, but she’s a bigger fan of the clear exits and the croissants, so she can deal.

“They aren’t that stupid,” Liam mumbles, poking her coffee cup. “Are you sure this is coffee?”

“We’re going to get kicked out,” Louis says straight faced, then smirks when Liam’s eyes widen in panic. “That hipster of a barrister is going to take offence.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Liam answers grumpily, like a kitten that’s had its ball of yarn taken away. “I just meant, coffee wasn’t like this in the war. It was rationed, so we had to stretch. I think the people back home used chicory, but we didn’t have much of that.”

“The herb?” Louis asks, nodding when Liam hums in assent. “Yeah, amazingly, I wouldn’t have thought that would be in hot demand at the front-lines.”

Liam just takes another sip. “Is Niall not coming today?”

“Nah, she has paperwork,” Louis shrugs. “She won’t be coming out of that office for a long time.”

“Niall hates paperwork?” Liam guesses.

Louis nods. “Yeah. She once asked me to break her wrist so she wouldn’t have to do it. But Sophia told her that I could break both her wrists, and she would make her hold the pen in her teeth, so we scrapped that plan.”

Liam stares at her. “You get away with so much shit.”

Louis laughs out loud delightedly. “Did you just swear? Pretty sure Captain America isn’t meant to swear. Isn’t that against your morals or something?”

Liam kicks her gently under the table. “What happened to not underestimating me? I was in the US army, I was surrounded by potty mouths.”

Louis snorts. “I guess so. Don’t tell Niall that, I think she still hero worships you.”

Pink dances over Liam’s cheeks, and Louis smirks into her coffee cup. They chat idly for a bit, mainly Liam asking questions about the future and Louis answering with as little sarcasm as possible. Which means a lot.

“So do you have flying cars?” Liam asks seriously at one point, and Louis manages to keep a straight face for a good five minutes until Liam realises she’s lying.

“Why would you even think that?” Louis asks, grin stretched across her face. “You really had that high expectations of the 21st century?”

Liam shrugs nonchalantly, even though her cheeks are flaming. “I don’t - I once went - it doesn’t matter.”

Louis kind of gets the impression it does matter, quite a bit actually. Liam’s eyes are determinedly focused on her coffee cup, hands bunched in her shirt. Louis ignores the way her stomach flips and buys Liam another coffee.

 

 

*

 

 

Her room is washed in grayscale. Louis lets her eyelids flutter open, gazes at the way the shadows dance over the ceiling. Fists her hands in the covers and counts to ten. It’s never good when she wakes early, her alarm clock flashing numbers at her.

She can feel the apprehension under her skin, the way adrenalin burns and curls in her bloodstream. It’s the calm before the storm - the gentle lap of waves before there’s a full blown tsunami. Something’s wrong, something’s intrinsically wrong.

Her phone rings once. She lets her fingers skate over the answer button. “This isn’t going to be good, is it?”

Niall laughs down the line, but it’s flat and hard. “You feel it too?”

Louis drums her fingers against her dresser, an easy, slow tempo. “Unfortunately.”

“Well, my knee is playing up,” Niall continues, calm and measured. “And call it a sixth sense or whatever, but it’s never been wrong before.”

“See you at SHIELD in five,” Louis replies, and hangs up.

She gazes blindly at the wall in front of her. Shit.

 

 

*

 

 

She walks into SHIELD clad in black, heels of her boots clicking on the floor. Sophia is waiting for her at the end of the corridor. She looks as immaculate as ever, hair pulled back into a shining ponytail and fingers flying over her iPad.

“Tomlinson,” Sophia greets, clear eyes flicking to hers. “Nice to see you being prompt for once. So prompt in fact, that I hadn’t even requested you yet.”

Louis shrugs. Her hair is still short at the moment, the colour of caramel and just touching her shoulders, and it swirls around her as she shakes her head. “Turning over a new leaf.”

When Sophia arches an eyebrow, Louis smirks a little. “Or I just have an instinct for when everything is going to shit.”

Sophia’s lip twitches, but it’s fleeting. “Is Horan behind you?”

“Should be,” Louis answers cheerfully. She pulls her gun out of the holster and loads it, flicking the safety on. “Her knee is playing up.”

Sophia does smiles at that one. “Horan’s knee is shot full of shrapnel. It needs it’s own metal detector.”

“You talking ‘bout me, Smith?” Niall calls, coming up behind them. Her hair is loosely braided, tendrils of bleached blonde framing her face. She’s in her suit, a quiver slung over her shoulder and bow in hand. “Not very professional.”

“I know who set the fire alarms off on Friday,” Sophia answers flatly, and Niall winces. “Director Swift is waiting for you; I’ll go round-up Payne.”

Taylor is waiting for them in the office. Louis winces when she sees what she’s wearing. Taylor’s in a blazer and skirt, a deep red with black lace neatly sewn around the edges. It makes her look a little like a presidential candidate, or a demure widow who inherited everything after her husband mysteriously died.

The last time Louis saw her wear that outfit, Louis was bleeding out in the middle of Budapest, and Taylor was standing in the middle of the fray like a queen surveying her subjects. Her rowdy, gun slinging subjects.

“Well, we’re fucked,” Niall mutters, and Louis has to hide her smile.

“Agents,” Taylor greets crisply, which is never a good sign. It’s clearly not a day for good signs. At all. There will probably never be a good sign again. “We’re just waiting for the Captain, then this briefing will begin.”

Thankfully, Liam stumbles in only a few seconds later. Louis kicks a chair out so Liam can sit next to her, then pulls a face when Taylor purses her lips. “What? Just making sure everyone feels included.”

Liam beams at her in gratitude. It’s a lot like looking into the sun.

“There’s been third shooting in Sokovia,” Taylor states, sliding a file over to each of them. “The protocol is identical each time. We send an agent to do surveillance after Nelson’s attack - “

“Sokovia?” Louis repeats, testing the word on her tongue. “Eastern European, obviously, but I’ve never had an operation there.”

“That’s because it’s mostly quiet,” Taylor explains. “We’ve never had much trouble there. Borders Ukraine, heavy snowfall for most of the year, dense forests. Overall a small population.”

“You sent Jesy in on recon, right?” Niall asks, eyes bright and alert.

Taylor nods. “There had been rumours of political unrest.” She pauses. “Almost a year ago Modest Corporations shelled a few buildings in the outskirts of Lavoska. Since then, the town has been in turmoil. Moderate conflict, children going missing, even arms trafficking.”

Modest corporations is like something out of a comic book; the towering organisation that everyone knows is dirty as sin, but no one can prove it. SHIELD have been looking for something to pin on it forever. A sudden explosion of a rival plant, the unexpected death of a foreign dignity, a weapons test that mysteriously kills a handful of civilians. The list of offences goes on and on, blurring into darkness like blood on the pavement.

“So you sent Jesy in to do a few checks?” Louis says slowly, piecing it together easily. “And she digs a bit too deep, gets a bit too close and someone takes a shot at her.”

“Times that by two and you have the whole story,” Taylor nods. “We sent a few more teams in and the same thing happened.”

Louis flicks through her file, stopping on the second page. “What’s this?”

There’s a photo of what looks like an abandoned castle. Louis’ first thought is it looks like something out of an old legend, walls the colour of cream, rough stone and towers, backed by an imposing mountain that is sprinkled with snow.

“We think it used to be a supply base back in the war. For ammunitions and weapons. But it’s been abandoned for centuries - “

“ - let me guess, until now,” Niall sighs, cutting in. “Why is it always until now? Why couldn’t they be doing something cool in that castle.”

Louis stares at her. “Like what?”

Niall shrugs. “I don’t know. A baking competition.”

Liam stares at Niall likes she’s grown another head, but Louis cracks up. Niall almost slides out of her chair she’s snickering so bad.

Liam kicks Louis’ chair leg. “Can you take this seriously for once?”

Louis glares at her, feeling irritation prickle under her skin. “We are. Shut up, Cap.”

Anger ripples over Liam’s face, but Taylor snaps her fingers loudly. “Save the bickering for later, ladies. The closer we move our team to the base, the more aggressive the retaliation. I need to send in an infiltration team and you’re the only ones dumb enough to do it.”

“You mean the rest of SHIELD can’t hack it,” Niall mumbles, and Louis high fives her under the table. “So what’s the plan? You send us in to see what’s really going on in the haunted house?”

“We’ll use the quinjet to transport you over,” Taylor says. “The three of you will lead the attack, and we’ll have the SWAT team as support. The mission is to infiltrate the base, gather as much intel as possible and any hostiles will be taken for questioning. I want to know what they’re doing in there.”

“How much opposition do you think we’re going to get?” Liam asks, brows crinkled. “Jesy only saw one shooter, but this report says three, and the latest one says five.”

Taylor shrugs one shoulder delicately. “We’ve had surveillance on the area since the first incident. Estimates are between twenty and thirty. There must be an alternative entrance to the base, because no one’s been seen going in.”

'Or they’re hiding in there like rats,' Louis thinks darkly. She raises her hand, just to see Taylor’s lips twitch. “Why the hell is Winston’s name on the support team list?”

“Fuck, we’ve got Winston?” Niall groans, flipping to the page Louis’ glaring at. “Are you serious?”

“He has been successful on numerous transatlantic operatives,” Taylor answers, tone steely. “And amazingly, neither of you are Director of SHIELD, so you don’t have a say. The quinjet leaves in ten hours, so you’ll be in Sokovia for early morning. Be at the launch bay for 2205. Agent Watson has appropriate attire for you in logistics, so you won’t be affected by the Sokovian climate.”

She fixes Louis with a hard stare. “This is your first time working as a unit. The outcome of the operative will influence whether this initiative is continued.”

Louis wants to helpfully point out Taylor has said shit about an ‘initiative’, just that Liam might be joining their little duo, but she keeps her mouth shut. If Taylor thinks she can collect people like cards, then let her.

“Captain, Watson has your uniform,” Taylor continues, “I believe she has made a few more... modern alterations.”

Liam nods. Her back is ramrod straight, eyes fixed and intent. Louis really hopes Liam isn't going to slip back into army brat mode. That would make this really fucking boring. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Louis resists the urge to smack her head against the desk.

“I want minimum casualties,” Taylor orders. Louis thinks it’s pretty unfair her eyes linger on Louis and Niall. For all she knows Liam could be a complete psycho. “This is an intelligence operation. We’re there to search the base. I don’t need the KGB to get wind of this.”

Niall raises an eyebrow. “You think they’re going to have agents that far out?”

Taylor purses her lips. “I’m not taking the risk.”

“Fine,” Louis says, slapping her file back on the table. “See you in ten hours then.”

Niall stands up abruptly, following Louis’ lead. Liam trails after them, but Sophia stays, presumably to discuss more mission details. Louis waits until they’re a decent distance away, then turns to Niall with her hands on her hips. “Am I the only one who doesn’t buy that bullshit?”

Niall snorts. “Course I don’t. They send in three teams and they all get spooked? I don’t think this is some rogue sleepers hiding out in a castle.”

Liam scowls at both of them. “You shouldn’t be talking like this, it’s not good for the morale of the mission.”

Louis turns on her heel, glaring at Liam. “What is with you today?”

She can see the mask that settles over Liam’s features, the clear lines and straight back of a good little soldier. “I just don’t think you should be acting like that in a briefing. You need to concentrate. This is serious.”

Louis gapes at her. “You weren’t complaining when we were burning down the archery range.”

Liam shuffles, but her face is resolutely grim. “That’s not the same as this. You can’t play around in meetings. What if something goes wrong and it’s because you weren’t listening properly?”

Louis can’t believe this. She knew Liam had a slightly sanctimonious side, that her bleeding desire to do what’s right can turn patronising and short sighted, but she didn’t expect this. “Payne, you haven’t been on an operation for seventy years. Me and Niall haven’t exactly been playing around, so stop acting like you’re an expert on protocol etiquette.”

Liam surges forward, but Niall slams her palm against Liam’s stomach. “Knock if off, both of you. Liam you need to go get your shit from Caroline. I’ll be right after you, okay?”

The corners of Liam’s mouth are tilted down miserably, but she doesn’t take another step. Niall is keeping her posture deliberately passive; her muscles are loose, and Louis can see her fingers are gently splayed against Liam’s chest. Niall might actually be _stroking_ Liam’s sternum with her little finger, but then Louis blinks and reckons she must have been imagining it.

Liam slowly walks away, but not before frowning at Louis, eyes a blend of disappointment and frustration. Louis resists the urge to stick her middle finger up. “Why is she being like that? She was fine with me the other day!”

Niall sighs, dragging her fist across her eyes. “Lou, it’s not like she hates you. Your styles are different, that’s all. Liam’s used to taking orders and respecting authority and we - “

“Think authority is a crock of shit,” Louis snorts, understanding settling in her bones. She still feels a little off, her nerves on edge, but the fiery heat has died to a low simmer. “Once I realised what the Red Room was doing - “

“You went a little rogue, I know,” Niall coos, patting Louis on the arm. “But Liam’s not used to that. She still believes in the rules, which makes zero sense considering she broke all of them the moment she jumped in that machine, but - your mentalities are different. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just going to take time.”

“We haven’t got fucking time,” Louis mumbles, but she nods once. “I’ll see you on the jet, okay?”

Niall squeezes her wrist, fingers fluttering over the pulse point. “See you, Tommo.”

Niall skips away and Louis exhales. If she’s going to be on a plane with Captain America for four hours, she needs to shoot something first.

 

 

*

 

 

Ben Winston is waiting on the quinjet when Louis steps on it, which pretty much cements the already atrocious mood she’s in. They’re leaving at night so it’ll be early morning in Sokovia, and the launch pad is clouded in shadows. The quinjet looks imposing in the fall of darkness, glinting ominously in the little light there is.

“Tomlinson,” Winston greets. He’s a middle aged man with short cropped hair, eyes liquid dark as if he’s trying hide what’s in them. Louis fucking hates his guts. He acts like every operative is a spy movie, complete with punchy one liners and a thrilling soundtrack. “Good to see you.”

He has a fucking clipboard that he ticks her name off. Does he think he’s a director? Louis is going to kick his fucking arse off the quinjet.

She pads over to one of the seats, folding herself into it elegantly. The rest of the jet is strangely quiet - it had dropped pitch when she walked in, but is still only a soft murmur. Louis lifts her head and looks around.

Thirwall and Edwards are driving the jet, flicking switches and adjusting their monitors. There are agents opposite her, clad in sleek, navy suits. The usual SHIELD attire has been adjusted for Sokovian climate; the suits are layered and based on ones worn by mountaineering professionals. There’s a base layer of polypropylene, so when the agents sweat it won’t hold the moisture, then an insulating layer and a shell to protect from the elements.

Louis’ own outfit is similarly layered. The intent is for her to be inside the base, rather than in the landscape surrounding it, so she’s only in two layers. Her outer layer has a hood, warm and soft against Louis’ cheek, and her boots have thick soles to run over the snow if necessary.

She doesn’t look up until she hears Niall’s familiar laugh, and when she does her jaw drops. “Oh my god, Liam.”

“Shut up, Louis,” Liam snaps, Liam who can never judge Louis again because she currently looks like she rolled in the American flag. It’s like she’s got patriotism painted on her soul. Which she probably does. Liam’s dedicated like that.

“Is that your uniform?” Louis repeats, staring unashamedly. Niall sticks her middle finger up at her and drags Liam to a seat. “I thought this was suppose to be inconspicuous?”

In all fairness, Liam’s costume isn’t that bad. It’s red, white and blue, admittedly, but the blue is muted, the colour of tinted steel. Instead of a flag painted across her middle, there are clear lines and a star. It’s like Captain America point Two. Captain America teenage version.

“I like it,” Louis says appraisingly. “If I had a costume kink, that would be it.”

Liam blushes so hard Louis thinks she might faint, and Niall kicks Louis in the shin, so it’s definitely worth it.

“So, we’ve pulled up blueprints of the building,” Niall announces, pulling them out and placing them over her knee. “Well, what we could get of it. It’s mostly pictures we got from overhead shots, thermal imaging cameras and that.”

She jabs her finger into the centre of the page. “This room is practically oozing heat, so I reckon there must be some kind of power source there.”

“Production station?” Louis murmurs. “It’s not high enough to be nuclear, thank god.”

The jet rumbles, interior shaking before Perrie smooths its course. Liam flinches beside her; when Louis glances at her, she notices that her face has gone utterly pale. Louis frowns, but then Niall’s tugging her attention back to the aerial shots.

“Widow, focus.” Niall only ever calls her Widow on missions, so Louis reluctantly looks away. “Half of the SWAT team are going to create a diversion in the front courtyard. Cap, that includes you, but after most of the hostiles have been drawn out, then you’re going to work your way in.”

“I’m entering through the side entrance.” Louis trails her fingers over the paper. “Niall is going to be your eyes from above, before she enters through this passage here. The plan is converge in this room. We think that any data - whether it’s paper trail or digital - is going to be kept down this corridor.”

Liam clears her throat. “The other half of the SWAT team will hopefully take out any opposition, so you two have time to get all the intel.”

“Good. Tell Edwards to cut all surplus power when we’re about five minutes out. We’ll be able to glide it down into the landing spot, so any engine noise needs to be as little as possible.”

Perrie salutes her from the cockpit. “Yes, boss.”

Louis nods. “Everyone understand the plan?”

She gets a round of assent, and settles back into her seat. She slowly begins her usual preparation, shutting down all her emotions, locking away everything that makes her _human_ until she’s just the Black Widow. SHIELD agent. There’s no room for anything more.

 

 

*

 

 

Sokovia is stunning in the weak morning light. The forests are viridescent, fresh green pines that seem to brush the sky. The land itself is blanketed in snow, layers of pure white. Even the sky itself is gorgeous; as if someone dyed it in lilac and coral and violet.

Louis jumps out of the quinjet with firm feet and a gun in her hand.

She realises that photos could never portray the sheer eminence of the base. It’s like a castle out of a fairy tale - an urban legend whispered around the fire on a cold night. The walls are made of rough stone, sandy in colour with snow-topped turrets.

“Widow, SWAT team are in position,” Cap says in her ear. Louis touches her com briefly, then moves forward.

The tall pines hide her pretty well, and she moves carefully, slowly, like a big cat. The opening is only a few paces away, a smaller entrance on the left side of the castle. “Enemy engaged,” Liam says in her ear, then there’s the sound of gun shots.

She knocks the door down with a well placed kick, aiming for the hinge which she knows will be loose. The door falls easily, and really, that’s her first clue something isn’t right. She’s faced with a long corridor, with different rooms leading off it. It’s dark, a world away from the sunlight glinting off the snow outside. The door swings shut and Louis’ left in shadows.

“I’m in,” she murmurs into her com, edging forward carefully. There’s no reply, and Louis feels a shudder go down her spine.

The rooms have no doors, so Louis enters them carefully, gun first. She does all the usual checks, but the room is completely empty. It’s a small expanse of space, but there’s nothing there. Utterly barren.

“Room one is empty. Hawkeye, position?”

Niall’s voice crackles over the earpiece. “Just entered the passage.” She swears loudly. “Three hostiles. I can handle them.”

Louis keeps moving forward. Niall is more than capable of handling three people. She checks the next room, then the third and fourth. It’s the same scenario - they’re clear of everything, people, weapons, anything.

“Rooms one to four are clear. Cap, what’s your situation?” The fifth room has a door, old and rusted, but it creaks open when Louis pushes it.

“SWAT team are still engaged. I’m working my way in now. Completely clear?”

“There’s nothing here,” Louis says succinctly. “I’ve got two more rooms to search then I’m making my way over to Hawkeye.”

She ignores whatever Liam’s answer is, flicking on the torch she has in her belt. This room is darker than the others, but a quick examination reveals it’s as empty as the others. She can feel the suspicion curling in her stomach, the apprehension simmering in her gut.

Louis would be an idiot to believe this corridor is completely deserted. Both Liam and Niall have ran into some kind of trouble - and Louis doesn’t catch a break, _ever_. There’s probably a bomb under the tiles or something.

Louis scans the room a final time, even pressing her ear to the wall, but there’s nothing there. She pushes up from her crouch, turning - and freezes.

Shock ripples through her stomach, white hot and burning. There’s a girl, standing in the doorway. It’s almost like seeing a ghost - the girl’s face is framed by tumbling curls, inky black and twisting against her neck like vines. Her eyes are a deep, sea green, and when she lifts them to meet Louis’, electricity snaps through her like an open wire.

“Who - “ Louis begins, which is when the girl turns and flees.

Shit. “There’s a civilian in the left wing. Female. I’m in pursuit.”

“A civilian?” Niall’s voice is incredulous. “How the hell did she get in? Are you sure she’s not hostile?”

“When are we ever sure?” Louis snaps. She loads her gun, snapping the safety off. “She’s the only person down here, I’m going after her.”

“Widow, don’t engage, it could be dangerous - “ Liam orders, and Louis rips the com from her ear.

She moves swiftly but quietly. The only room left before another turning is the sixth room. The door is open, swinging slightly on its hinges, and Louis sets her jaw. This room has a large window, sparkling planes of glass that light the centre of the room. The corners though are draped in darkness, wrapped in shadows like cobwebs.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Louis calls. Her voice echoes off the walls. “The base is under siege, you need to get out.”

She catches movement from the corner of her eye, snapping her head round. There’s movement from one of the edges. Slowly, so slowly it’s almost as the girl was a shadow herself, she steps forward.

Louis’ stomach pitches uneasily, instincts screaming for her to get out. She can’t tell _why_ , but there’s something about her -

“Who are you?” Louis repeats, and that’s when everything goes to shit.

The girls lifts her hands and there’s a blur of creamy skin and elegant fingers. Louis squints and then there’s just _pain_.

Later, much later, Louis will be able to describe the whole episode in clear, clinical terms. How the girl lifted her hand, red wisps of light curling over her fingers. How she shot the ball of light towards Louis, how it hit her in the chest and sent her spiralling.

But now, now all Louis can feel is _pain_. It feels like electricity, sparks of white hot agony rocking through her body. Louis pin-wheels backwards, smacking her head on the concrete, but it’s nothing, nothing compared to the way her whole body is spasming. It’s like someone ripped out every bone in her body and snapped it into pieces, grabbed her heart and ripped it straight out of her chest.

When Louis finally comes to, she can taste blood in her mouth. It’s bitter and metallic, and she spits onto the ground. Her vision swims into view, a blur of black and red and _green_.

“You little bitch,” Louis whispers, and then she’s got her hands around the girl’s throat.

It’s pure instinct this, it’s left over training from the Red Room, it’s the fact Louis is prepared for everything and she wasn’t prepared for that, it’s the bone deep terror that this is nothing she’s ever _seen_.

When the haze of red has lifted, Louis’ panting furiously. Her hands are wrapped around a pale throat, but Louis swaps them easily for the girl’s wrists, slamming her body against her to keep her pinned to the wall.

“Who are you?” Louis snarls. “What the hell was that?”

The girl's eyes are wide, expressive - and they make Louis catch her breath. Louis has seen so many beautiful things, white sand beaches, tumbling waterfalls, temples that have been untouched for thousands of years, but she’s never seen anything as captivating as this girl’s eyes.

They’re change in the light, a kaleidoscope of colours, the burnt amber of autumn leaves, the deep green of the pines outside, jade and shining like the Mediterranean Sea. They’re full of fire too, and it’s like a punch to the stomach when Louis sees the pure vitriol, the fury and the frustration and the pain.

Fuck. Louis isn’t here to play The Notebook, Louis is here to crack this kid’s skull against the wall.

“What the hell did you do to me?” Louis shouts. “What was that?”

“Where is Gemma?” the girl snarls, the words falling from her pink lips like poison. “They told me you took her, where is she?”

The girl pushes against her, Louis eyeing her hands warily. She’s writhing beneath her, but Louis presses her knee into her side, digging it in harshly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who works here? What are they doing in this base?”

“You’re SHIELD, aren’t you?” The hate is the girl’s eyes is almost palpable. Louis can almost taste the loathing. “They said you would come, they said you’d - “

“Who?” Everything is happening too fast. It feels like a siren is going off in her head, wailing and wailing. Her legs are still trembling, and she hates to admit it but she doesn’t know how long she can keep this up for. “Who told you this?”

There’s something dawning in the girl’s eyes. Louis can’t tell what it is, but the girl stops struggling, goes completely pliant under her. “Louis.”

Everything in her goes cold. “What did you just say?”

“You’re Louis.” The girl’s voice is low, raspy, like a deep sip of coffee. She says it slowly, eyebrows crinkling as if she’s coming to a realisation.

Louis has no idea what is going on. It feels like the whole thing is spiralling, spinning more and more out of her control and she can’t get it back. “I don’t - “

“Louis!” Niall’s voice cracks through the air like a whip. She’s panting, skidding on the floor as she comes to a stop. “Who the fuck - “

If everything was going too fast, the world slows for the next second. Firstly, the girl rips her hands from Louis’ grasp. Louis stumbles, still weak from the first attack. She gets a glimpse of the girl's face, and flinches as her pupils bloom in panic. She lifts her hands and the wisps of red shoot from her palms, straight into Niall.

“Niall!” Louis shouts. She stumbles over to her, legs still wobbly. Niall is writhing on the floor, limbs spasming. Shit.

She switches onto autopilot. She pulls off her jacket, shoving it under Niall’s head. “Niall, can you hear me? What hurts?”

Niall stops spasming abruptly. Louis feels her stomach swoop. Niall’s eyes are shut, but her breathing is laboured, heavy. “Niall.” She snaps her head up. “What did you do to her?”

“I’m not letting you take me away,” the girl hisses, all her hackles rising like an angry cat. “I won’t let you take me too.”

She runs then, turns on her heel and leaves Louis in the dark, with Niall lying motionless beside her.

 

 

*

 

 

Louis’ still crouched beside Niall’s body when Liam arrives. Liam takes one look at them and all the blood drains out of her face. “What happened?”

“Call the evac. team,” Louis says calmly. “We need to get Niall out of here and to the medical bay.“

“What’s wrong - “

“The Director needs to organise a debrief, I don’t know what intel Niall had, but we need you and the SWAT team’s account.”

“But Niall - “

“And we’re going to need a clean up squad. We had an enhancement in the field and I’m pretty sure they got away. Female. Maybe 19, around - “

“But what - “

“I don’t know what’s wrong with her, Liam,” Louis snarls, slamming her hand on the floor. Liam’s eyes widen in shock, flinching at Louis’ tone. “I don’t know, okay? But right now we need to get out of here, so get your fucking head in the game, okay?”

She can see the moment Liam snaps into Captain mode. She bends down, sliding her hands under Niall and picking her up. It’s one hell of a picture, Niall cradled in Liam’s arms, blood trickling from her ear and Liam’s lip busted.

“Is the exit route clear?” Louis asks. She’d dropped her gun when the girl attacked, and alarm flares when she realises she didn’t even notice. She slides it into her belt.

“Yeah, it’s clear,” Liam nods, and Louis leads the way. The quinjet is waiting in the courtyard, and Louis blanches when she sees the bodies strewn everywhere. None of them are SHIELD - their uniforms are a dark red.

She raises an eyebrow at Liam, and Liam shakes her head grimly. “Wasn’t us.”

The message is implicit and Louis thinks back to the first shooter, the one who had missed Jesy then shot himself. She shakes her head and climbs onto the quinjet. Liam is close behind her, laying Niall carefully on the floor.

“Edwards, what are you waiting for?” Louis snaps. “And we need a medic. Where the fuck is Pinnock?”

Leigh Anne hurries over, the quinjet whirring beneath them. “What happened?”

“She - “ Louis begins, and feels her throat close up. Because she doesn’t know what happened. “There was - “ She swallows. “Electricity. There was an open wire.”

Leigh Anne looks dubious. “I can’t see an entrance wound.”

“Well, that’s the closest you’re going to get,” Louis mutters, and meets Leigh Anne’s eyes. She must see the desperation in them, because she nods once.

Leigh Anne checks Niall over; her pulse, her temperature, even pulls her eyelids back gently. Niall doesn’t stir once, lays completely still in a way that terrifies Louis. Leigh Anne finishes her inspections with a slow exhale, shaking her head. “There’s nothing wrong with her. She has a cut on her head, but that’s not from the - electricity.”

Leigh Anne snorts suddenly. “If I didn’t know better I would say she’s sleeping.”

There doesn’t seem to be much more they can do. Leigh Anne dresses the wound on Niall’s head, then checks over Liam and Louis. Louis omits the part where she was ‘electrocuted’ too, but she can tell Liam doesn’t buy it.

They end up at the back of the quinjet. There’s a makeshift medical bed which they lay Niall on. Niall looks tiny, completely motionless, even more pale against the white sheet. Louis settles with her back to the bed, tucks her legs up beneath her and rests her chin on her knees.

“What happened?” Liam asks once, but Louis shakes her head.

“Don’t let me fall asleep,” is all Louis says, and Liam just nods. The quinjet is silent; even Perrie and Jade aren’t chattering away like they normally do, cracking jokes over the speakers. The atmosphere is bleak, the tension tangible, like a dark fog that threatens to smother everyone. It physically can’t get much worse.

Half-way over Poland, Niall wakes up and vomits all over the floor.

  
  
 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO MUCH DRAMA I feel I teased you with Harry's appearance in this chapter, but I promise her character arc and presence in the fic is going to be much bigger as the fic progresses (when they figure out who the hell she is lol :D)
> 
> here is the [fic link for THIS CHAPTER :D](http://ariadneodair.tumblr.com/post/128269842477/ive-got-a-fire-for-a-heart-chapter-2-10k-cwc/)  
> \- I AM HAVING A DIFFERENT FIC POST FOR EACH CHAPTER so gooooo look at the gorgeous edits for each chapter (and reblog please *ily*)
> 
> here is the [inspiration tag](http://ariadneodair.tumblr.com/search/I%27ve+got+fire+for+a+heart+-+inspiration+tag/) for this fic, which you could look at if you like :D
> 
> any feedback is awesomeee come talk to me please lol :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeey everyone! I cant believe it's been over two weeks since I've updated it - life has been so crazy and I struggled with the Attitude bullshit, so I was put off writing for a bit.
> 
> I finally started again, but I have dropped the niall/liam sideplot I was going to go with cause of it. just so people knooow :)
> 
> um hope this chapter is okay!

“I have sick in my hair.”

“Liam,” Louis says very, very calmly. “Shut the fuck up.”

Niall looks apologetic. “I’m sorry for getting sick in your hair.”

“You don’t get to say anything,” Louis hisses. “On account on you laying there as if you were dead.”

Niall sniffles. “I’m really sorry, Lou-bear.”

“I fucking hate you,” Louis snaps. There’s a pitying expression on Liam’s face. They both know she’s lying. They sit in silence for a few minutes, the engine whirring underneath them.

“No, but really, my hair - “

“I will kick you out of the _damn_ jet.”

 

-

 

Niall outright refuses to go to med bay. Both she and Louis have a severe aversion to any kind of medical attention, because it’s either a) full of idiots telling Louis she can’t do her damn job with bullet holes, or b) it brings back a slew of traumatic memories they’ve accumulated over the years.

“Niall, you have to go,” Leigh Anne pleads, eyes wide and the colour of caramel. “I need to get you checked over, you may have concussion - “

Niall is standing there, utterly stoic. Louis’ never seen her so still - or so grim. Her mouth is pulled into a thin line, lips white. Apart from her apology on the jet, she hadn’t said a word, staring blankly at her feet.

“Look, if she doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t have to go,” Louis snaps, because she’ll always have Niall’s back, even if she does kind of think Niall should go to med bay. “You gave her a once over when she woke up.”

“It doesn’t explain a forty five minute blackout,” Leigh Anne snaps. She reaches for Niall’s arm, but Louis slides in front of Niall before she can touch her. “Louis, you know I’m right.”

“She doesn’t want to go,” Louis repeats. “So she’s not going. Don’t you have other injuries to attend?”

She can see the anger flash in Leigh Anne’s eyes, but there’s understanding there too. She purses her lips for a minute before flouncing away, and Louis can feel Niall physically relax behind her.

There are agents swarming around them, buzzing like bees as they file into headquarters. The steady hum of noise is a perfect cover for what Louis wants to say. “Listen, Taylor and Sophia are going to be over here in under two minutes. And they’re going to want a debrief, so I need to know which story we’re going with here.”

There’s so much gratitude swimming in Niall’s eyes it makes Louis want to tear up. Just a little. Her voice is hoarse when she uses it. “It was a concussion, okay? That’s all they need to know.”

“Cool,” Louis answers easily, and Niall grips her arm tight. She increases the pressure for moment, before letting go. “Payne, we good?”

Liam blinks from where she’d been staring at Niall. “I’m not going to rat you out. We’re a team. I trust you.” She directs the last part to Niall, who flushes a pretty shade of pink. “Do you know how long we’ve got?”

“I think we’re out of time,” Louis says faintly, and they all wince at the ominous click, click, click of heels coming from down the hall. Taylor is standing there, looking distinctly unimpressed.

“Horan, aren’t you supposed to be in med bay?” Taylor announces crisply. “An unexplained, hour-long concussion is not something to be brushed off.”

“I’m fine,” Niall says stoically, “Leigh Anne already checked me over. I’m ready to go to debrief.”

“As admirable as your work ethic is, this isn’t a discussion. This is an order.”

“She’s fine,” Louis interjects loudly. She has no idea why Niall doesn’t want to go to med bay - no idea what happened when she was out, but she’d seen the flash of terror in her eyes. “Isn’t this just wasting time?”

Taylor’s eyes narrow. “I’ll remind you who's in charge here, Widow. We have very different definitions for what constitutes as ‘fine’. I’m not getting slammed with a health and safety lawsuit when you collapse fifteen minutes in.”

“Look, Leigh Anne cleared me,” Niall insists, shaking her head. “If I collapse you can put me on paperwork for a month, okay?”

Taylor stares at her for a long moment. “Fine. You can go to debrief.”

Niall lets out a long breath. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Taylor holds up one hand. “I wasn’t finished. I don’t know why exactly you’re not going to medical, but I’m going to assume it’s not just your complete lack of self preservation. I expect a proper explanation tomorrow morning. Are we clear?”

It’s an out and Niall isn’t dumb enough to not take it. “Yes, ma’am.”

The conference room is silent when they file in. Louis can see conversations halting as they sit down, and feels a strange pang in her chest when she realises _why_. As far as everyone else is concerned, the mission went fine. Yeah, Hawkeye suffered an injury, but that’s not exactly abnormal.

In fact, Louis thinks some of the SWAT team may have got some intel, plus Louis and Liam are scratch free. Louis and Niall were they only ones to see the girl, Louis thinks, and the realisation is a slow burn of ice through her veins. No wonder everyone is so spooked - as far as they’re concerned, it was a pretty standard op.

Taylor settles at the head of the table and starts the debrief off. Louis isn’t really listening - half of her is keeping an eye on a pale Niall, whilst the other half is fighting to not think about the base. She keeps seeing glimpses of red in her peripheral vision, and her hands curl into fists.

Liam finishes off her section and Taylor turns to Louis. “Widow.”

Louis slowly crosses her legs. Everyone in the room is looking at her. Her mouth is dry. “I entered from a side passage. There were six rooms. First five were all empty. Nothing there.”

She pauses, weighing each word. “There was a female waiting outside the fifth room. I thought she was a civilian, so I followed her.”

“Description?” Sophia breaks, fingers already flying over the keypad.

“Tall. Around 18 or 19. Brunette. Green eyes. Telekinetic powers.”

Sophia freezes. “Repeat that last one.”

Louis shrugs her shoulders. “Sorry, babe, not sure how to spell it.”

Taylor leans forward. “What are you saying?”

Louis locks eyes with her. “I’m saying there was an enhancement in the field. She had some form of telekinesis, and I’m not taking psionic manipulation off the table either. She hit me with some form of telekinetic blast.”

Winston chokes. “What?”

“She gathered up molecules into a blast of concussive energy, keep up, Ben,” Niall snaps, and Louis cracks up. “She did it to me, too.”

Taylor doesn’t react outwardly, but Louis didn’t think she would. Instead she steeples her fingers, painted nails a slash of red against pale hands. “How would that even be possible?”

“I don’t know,” Louis answers, and is proud when her voice never wavers. “I’ve seen intensive training programmes, Liam is living proof of the success of the super serum, but I have never seen anything like that.”

Taylor nods once. “This meeting just hit level seven clearance. Any agents without that authority can leave now. I expect written reports submitted by 16.30. Needless to say the content of this operation is confidential. Sophia, start a cross examination.”

She orchestrates it like a well practised conductor, waving a manicured hand and watching as agents file out. In the end there’s only Sophia, Perrie and Jade left. Liam wobbles in her seat, like she isn’t quite sure if she has clearance yet, but Niall just pats her leg. “It’s okay, Captain America gets to bypass levels one to six.”

“Is this the girl?” Sophia asks finally, sliding the iPad over to Louis. She tosses her glossy hair over one shoulder. “I cross referenced her by appearance, narrowed the age range from 18 - 20, then searched within a 50 mile radius of the base.”

Louis taps the photo and freezes, heart thudding in her chest. “Yeah, that’s - that’s her.”

The picture is dated around a year and a half ago. At first glimpse it’s a crowd, clearly protesting against something. There are signs and banners, angry faces and raised fists. When she looks closer, she makes out the face of the girl from her base. She looks _young_ ; red apples of her cheeks and hair pulled into a messy bun.

“Harry Styles,” Sophia continues. “Parents died when she was younger, put in foster care. Moved out with a sibling when she was of legal age. Her apartment was one of the ones destroyed during the Modest shelling. A few days later she’s seen at this protest and then - nothing. It’s like she disappeared.”

“That’s what they said about me,” Louis murmurs, and the atmosphere in the room drops.

The silence hangs heavy like a fog for a few moments, before Jade clears her throat. “She just went off radar?”

“Her and her sister, yeah,” Sophia frowns, “G - “

“Gemma,” Louis sighs, pushing the iPad away. “Gemma Styles, right?”

Sophia nods slowly. “How did you know that?”

“She told me.” Louis scrubs her fists across her face. She feels tired suddenly, a deep ache in her bones. Her mouth tastes like ash. “She knew who SHIELD was, she said that we’d taken her sister.”

Liam breathes in heavily. “Why would we have taken her sister?”

Louis wants to point out that SHIELD has done a number of dubiously moral things over the years, but now is not the time. “I don't know. She just said that we had taken Gemma, and she wasn’t going to let herself be taken as well.”

Taylor clears her throat. “Incredibly, this might not even be our most pressing issue. We have suspicions about who is behind all this.”

Louis taps the table absently-mindedly. “Who?”

“Hydra,” Taylor answers bluntly, and everyone freezes. Liam makes a choking noise, her face draining of all colour. Louis feels her heart sink all the way to her boots.

“Hydra,” Louis says slowly. You could cut the tension in the room with a butter knife. “Hydra, as in the terrorist-military organisation bent on world domination. The scientific Nazi branch. The one that was supposedly defeated during World War Two.”

“No, the other Hydra,” Niall mutters, voice hoarse, and she and Louis share a grim glance. Louis glances at Liam and sees that her fists are clenched, the knuckles white.

“The very same,” Taylor sighs. For the first time she looks a tiny bit broken - Louis can see the cracks in her perfect veneer, splitting apart like shattered ice. “We traced back some of the intel we gathered.”

“They used to crack cyanide pills,” Liam mumbles, and everyone turns to her. She’s staring blankly at the table. “Back in the war. I thought it was weird the agents at the base did the same. Too much of a coincidence.”

“It appears that’s why the sniper shot himself,” Taylor continues, “it’s something of a tradition with Hydra.”

The atmosphere is terrible. Everyone is clearly trying to remain calm, but it’s frail, brittle - one touch and everything will shatter. Louis can feel terror skitter across her spine - Hydra.

Perrie shakes her head. “I thought they were dismantled in World War Two? After the death of their leader? What, they’ve just been dormant all this time?”

“We think they have been working with Modest Corporations,” Taylor says grimly, and Louis groans. “It would appear they didn’t disband - just split up and laid low. Chances are, Modest has been working as a front for them for a long time. Or not even a front - Modest may have been run by Hydra agents all this time.”

“Do we have any evidence?” Niall demands. “Anything we can trace back?”

Taylor shakes her head. “Not incriminating Modest. Our agents found a paper trail leading to Hydra - plus, there were sigils in some of the rooms. Your little friend is a tip off too - Hydra were experimenting with enhancing weapons during the war, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were moving on to humans.”

Louis feels her stomach lurch. “You think that’s what is happening here?”

Taylor nods. “We believe so. Our next objective is to take down any Hydra bases. Considering Hydra’s previous actions - however long ago - they will undoubtedly have spread over Eastern Europe. Possibly further.”

She fixes Louis, Liam and Niall with a look. “Obviously, we’re going to need a specialist team - maybe Styles is the only enhancement, but maybe she isn’t. Meanwhile we’ll have agents working on infiltrating Modest and scouting potential bases.”

“This is insane,” Niall moans. Her skin is still pale, but her colour is slowly coming back. “Nazis? Are you kidding? Me and Widow are resigning.”

Louis just gives a non-committal shrug. She’s not beyond considering that.

“I’ll have full briefs for you by tomorrow,” Taylor continues, ignoring Niall. “Clear all other operatives, this is main priority for you now. You’ll have to put in some training hours, to make sure you’re prepared and working cohesively when a base is found.”

The others nod, but Louis doesn’t say anything. She’s doesn’t have the confidence this is something they can be prepared for.

 

 

-

 

 

Liam leaves the moment the meeting ends. She throws a guilty look over her shoulder at Niall, but her eyes are swimming with ghosts, of pain and failure and fury, and Louis just tilts her chin at her.

Captain America was instrumental in bringing down Hydra, was the reason Liam was on the plane that would become her icy tomb for seventy years, and to know that was all for nothing? That has to hurt.

Niall’s flat is dark when they slip inside. Niall doesn’t bother turning on the lights, just pads into the living room and collapses on the sofa like all her strings have been cut. Louis joins her, pulling her knees up and resting her chin on them.

It’s a comfort, the soft spin of night around them. Niall looks ethereal in the shadows, hair so pale it almost glows. Louis tugs a blanket around her legs, the fabric gentle against her skin. She wonders what it must look like, two master assassins curled up on the sofa in the dark.

“So what happened?” Louis asks finally. “What did she do to you?”

She can’t quite say the name yet, can’t let the moniker fall from her lips. If she does it’s admitting this is real, that there’s a teenager out there with the power to set her blood on fire.

Niall shuffles so her toes are pressing against Louis’ calf. “At first it was just like a normal concussion. She hit me with whatever that was - “

“Did you feel anything?” Louis interjects sharply, shudders rippling through her skin. The memory of her convulsing body is still vivid in her mind.

Niall shakes her head, hair glinting. “No. I remember it hitting me, but I was out before I hit the floor. It was like falling asleep - I don’t remember anything. And then - “

Louis can hear Niall audibly swallow. “And then I was in Bogota.”

Louis blinks. “Bogota?”

Niall shuffles again. Even with the lights off you can see pain clearly etched across her features. “Remember the mission we did? The one where the building collapsed on us, after a bomb went off?”

“August 2013. The Perscavo case. Only we’d drip fed them false information, so the bomb went off three floors above where we were.” Louis remembers it, sure, but it’s not one of the more prominent missions.

“Right.” Niall’s breathing is ragged, as if there’s glass in her lungs. “So, I open my eyes and I’m back there. In Bogotá - in the wreck of the building. There’s debris fluttering all around me, ash curling in the air like ghosts. I breathed in and I could feel it in my throat - scratching at my lungs.

“So I do a sensory check and my ears are ringing. Shrill and repetitive, just as if a blast had gone off. I look down and I’m in my SHIELD uniform. I have a bow in my hand - the Holt Master One, the same knick in the riser. Same scratch on lower limb, the exact same as two years ago.”

Louis nudges her softly. “So, you were - remembering it?”

“Louis, I was there,” Niall whispers, and the terror in her voice makes Louis’ blood freeze. “I wasn’t reliving it, I wasn’t imagining it - I was _there_.”

Louis gasps. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know.” Niall voice trembles. “I don’t mean physically there obviously, but it wasn’t just a memory. It was a full replica of the mission - I’ve  never had a dream that was so lucid.”

Louis sinks back into the sofa. “Christ.”

“Christ,” Niall agrees grimly. “And it gets worse. I start moving forward, making my way out of the ruins. My hearing is coming back now, I can hear screams and ambulance sirens but it’s - muffled. Muted. As if I’m in a glass cage. It’s not getting any lighter either, just this room that goes on and on. And then I see the body.”

It feels like there’s a hand around Louis’ ribs squeezing and squeezing. “Whose?”

“Yours,” Niall chokes, and the hand around her rib cage crushes her heart into dust.

“Mine?” Louis exclaims, voice shrill. “I didn’t die on that mission, clearly. I am very much alive. And apparently never going back to Bogotá.”

“I don’t know, but it was you,” Niall insists. “I went rushing over and I could _smell_ the blood. And when I put my hands to your stomach, I could _feel_ it, Louis. Wet and hot and - and spilling all over my fingers. You were dead, Louis, and I - “

Niall inhales, and the sound is wet. Louis doesn’t even realise she’s reaching for her, but within a second Niall is climbing into her lap, arms wrapped around her neck. Niall’s face is buried in Louis’ shirt, and she can feel the fabric growing damp. She just clutches Niall tighter.

“It’s okay,” Louis mutters, throat tighter. “Ni, it wasn’t real. I’m here, I’m not dead, it was a trick to mess with your mind. Besides, like you’re not coming with me when we finally go out.”

“Damn straight,” Niall sniffles. She settles back a little, fingers still fisted in Louis’ shirt. “We’re both going to the same place anyway.”

“Exactly, and you’re not checking out to leave me with the paperwork,” Louis jokes, and they both laugh wetly.

Niall scrubs a hand across her face. “Yeah well. The deal has always been you jump, I jump, Tommo. Don’t try and weasel out now.”

“Selfish,” Louis smirks, but she pulls Niall in by her neck. Niall exhales carefully against her chest, muscles pliant and relaxed for the first time that day. “But yeah. Of course.”

Niall rests in her arms for a moment more, before shuffling back. She clears her throat. “But it was so vivid, Lou. How was that possible? How is any of this possible?”

Louis tugs a hand through her hair, wincing as her fingers catch on the knots. Resentment burns in her gut, sits heavy in her stomach like a stone. She can’t fix this. “Some form of telepathy?”

“What, like reading people’s minds?” Niall asks, wrinkling her nose. “Potentially. But she didn’t exactly read my mind she - “

“Gave you nightmares,” Louis finishes, biting her lip. “I know. Mental manipulation perhaps?”

Niall flutters her eyes shut. “This is so fucked up. This is insane. We should ask for a pay raise.”

“Bring it up with Taylor tomorrow,” Louis suggests, then smirks at Niall’s confused expression. “When you have to go explain to Taylor why you wouldn’t go to medical.”

Niall groans. “Fuck, I forgot about that. I probably have to tell her, don’t I? In case Styles does it to someone else.”

“Wait.” Louis frowns, heart fluttering in her chest like hummingbird’s wings. “You’ll think we’re going to see her again?”

“Well, yeah,” Niall says slowly, as if Louis’ being particularly dense. “The kid is clearly working with Hydra. We've been assigned to destroy all Hydra bases. It’s like a meet-cute.”

She can feel the hairs rising on her arms. For some reason she hadn't banked on seeing Styles again - put it down to a twisted, tangled nightmare, and locked it away. “I guess.”

“I need to get some sleep,” Niall yawns, stretching until her back clicks. “Or try to. I’m terrified that if once I close my eyes, I’ll be back in that building.”

It’s such an easy confession, tumbling out casually like a cigarette dangling from her lips, and Louis squeezes Niall’s knee. “Hey, do you want me to stay over?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Niall laughs, and lobs the blanket at Louis’ face. Louis catches it easily, and slings an arm around Niall’s waist, stumbling up the stairs.

She falls asleep to the sound of Niall’s steady breathing, and she dreams of red.

 

-

 

It’s different the next morning. Louis pads into Niall’s kitchen with careful feet. There are patches of sun shining through the windows, glowing and warm on Louis’ skin as she passes through them.

She perches on the edge of one the wooden chairs, blowing softly on her coffee. She feels raw, new, like she's shrugged off the trauma of yesterday and now her skin is pink.

Niall shuffles down about half an hour later. She’s tiny in an oversized jumper, hands wrapped around the ends like paws. There are lilac smudges under her eyes, freckles speckled over her nose.

“Don’t bother making me breakfast,” Niall snorts, wandering over to the counter and flicking on the coffee maker.

Louis raises an eyebrow. “I can peel out a man’s trachea with my thumbs, darling, I can’t make a fry up.”

“Life skills,” Niall smirks. She pulls out a mug, Louis’ nose wrinkling as she puts in copious spoonfuls of sugar. “You feeling a bit better?”

“Are you?” Louis asks pointedly, and Niall sighs. She pours herself a cup, then sits down opposite Louis, tangling their feet together.

“I guess.” Niall sighs, stirring her coffee slowly. “I had the nightmares again. The time I got tortured in Liberia.”

She says it so flatly, no inflection at all, but Louis shudders. Before Louis got recruited by SHIELD - and she uses the word ‘recruit’ in the loosest way possible - Niall got into a really nasty situation in Costa Rica.

Niall had told her the story a couple of years ago, blood buzzing with tequila and eyes sticky from staying up until sunrise. It’s part of the reason Niall’s knee is so fucked up, and Louis’ pretty certain Niall took the rap to save everyone else’s skins.

Niall still has nightmares about it, has woken Louis up screaming and flailing, and once even holding a knife to her throat. Louis has enough nightly panic attacks of her own, so it’d be redundant to hold it against her. As if she could - all she feels is dull, throbbing pain as Niall quivers in her arms.

“I’m sorry, Ni,” Louis sighs. “I think my head was so shocked by everything yesterday, that it didn’t bother re-playing anything old.”

Niall hums sadly, shaking her head. “You ever think we chose the wrong lives?”

“Choice had nothing to do with it,” Louis murmurs, and the small room rings with the truth.

“She knew me,” Louis announces quietly, truth tumbling out in the soft glow of honesty. “The girl in the castle. She knew me.”

Niall frowns. “What, you mean she knew SHIELD?”

Louis shakes her head. “No, she knew me, Niall. She said my name.”

Niall looks skeptical. She takes a long sip of her coffee, cup chinking as she sets it down. “So she knew you were the Black Widow? It’s not that surprisingly, really. If Hydra briefed her on SHIELD, they probably mentioned you as well. And me. And maybe even Liam.”

“No, not like that,” Louis insists. She can hear Styles saying her name, the way her voice curled around the vowels, and it makes her stomach pitch. “She said Louis. Twice. She said ‘you’re Louis,’ and the way she looked at me, Niall - “

“What are you trying to say? That she knew you somehow?”

“I think so,” Louis mumbles, the words catching in her throat. “I think she must have.”

“Louis.” Niall shuffles unhappily, discomfort etched across her face. “How would that be possible? Hydra might have told her your first name, it’s not that weird. It’s a possibility.”

“No,” Louis snaps, tone sharp. “It wasn’t like that, it didn’t - feel, like that.”

Niall gazes at her. “You think maybe the Red Room? Is there anyway you knew her from there?”

Louis shakes her head, laughing bitterly. “The Red Room had standards, even for them. They would never work with Hydra. And I didn’t recognise her face - if she’s alive now, then she’d have to had made to the final examination with me, and she wasn't one of the girls.”

Louis remembers the faces of all of them. All of the girls who survived to the final stages of the programme. She even ran into Svetlana Pakova last August - and wasn’t that a fun experience.

Louis knows all of their faces, as easily as her own, and tumbling curls and eyes the colour of rolling tides, isn’t one of them.

“She’s not Red Room - and Red Room never had access to mind reading, either. Which is probably a blessing, because a Soviet spy with telekinesis isn’t something I want to go up against.”

Niall purses her lips. “I believe you, Lou, you know I do. But you have to admit this is crazy. I thought you’d never even been to Sokovia before?”

Louis rubs her eyes. “I haven’t. And I’ve done missions in Eastern Europe, but not particularly close to there. Not to mention, Styles was meant to be in social care for most of her life. She wasn’t exactly bouncing around the states.”

“Then I have no idea,” Niall shrugs. “Guess you’ll have to ask her next time you see her.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Louis snaps, and Niall bursts into laughter.

 

-

 

Liam looks more puppy eyed and wholesome than ever when she opens the door to her flat. Her eyes are wide and apologetic, flicking guiltily to Niall’s. She cringes slightly as she swings the door open, Niall and Louis sliding inside.

“I don’t have any groceries,” Liam mumbles, gesturing to the sofas in her living room. For not the first time, Louis notes how bleak this place is. All the furniture looks like something out of a catalogue, a pale beige colour and with a matching armchair. “I forgot to go get some.”

“You forgot?” Louis repeats archly. “A super soldier like you forgets to eat her body weight in calories?”

“Isn’t your metabolism on fast forward or something?” Niall chimes in, curling her legs up beneath her. “Cause of the super serum?”

“Well, yeah,” Liam admits bashfully. She tugs on the end of her ponytail. “But I was a bit shaken up by what happened.”

Louis nods slowly. Liam’s in a too large jumper - even for her and her muscles -  the sleeves dangling over her hands. It’s a strange imitation of Niall earlier, and Louis thinks maybe all of them try to hide. Shrink into soft sleeves to escape what’s in front of them.

“I know you’re going to ask and I’m - “ Liam swallows, a multitude of emotions flickering across her face. “Well, I guess fine doesn’t cover it, but. I’ve accepted they’re back. That Hydra is back.”

“You fought them in World War Two, right?” Niall asks quietly. She chooses her words carefully, like nimble feet navigating through broken glass. “They were the Nazi division you fought.”

Liam nods. “Yeah. Johan Schmidt - he led it. They told me he was insane - obsessed with the occult and the supernatural. They experimented on weapon technology and - even on people.”

“On people?” Louis repeats, heart beating fast. “I never knew that.”

Liam shakes her head. “We never had any substantial proof, but we’d infiltrate bases to find machines. Wires. People strapped to gurneys.” She coughs. “Well, corpses really. I always had suspicions, but we couldn’t prove it. It was only a matter of time, though.”

She slumps forward, all the fight going out of her. She’d been animated whilst talking, fire glinting in her eyes, but now Liam just looks heartbreakingly young. “I can’t believe they’re back.”

“They may never have left,” Niall interjects gently. She’s sitting on one end of the sofa, Liam on the other, and Louis in the chair. She pokes Liam gently with her foot. “You managed to stop them, but they probably had other bases.”

“So it was for nothing then,” Liam states dully, and Louis startles when she sees the glint of tears in her eyes.

“Liam, no,” she says desperately, sliding out of her chair. “Think how many people you saved, how many bases you managed to destroy. It’s not your fault we all got sloppy after America’s golden girl went down.”

She hovers awkwardly in front of Liam, wincing at how red the other girl’s eyes are. Louis stares at Niall pointedly, and Niall gets the hint, sliding along the sofa and wrapping an arm around Liam. Liam sinks into it, tucking her head in the crook of Niall’s neck.

Louis occupies her space, pulling her knees up to her chest. Everything feels so vulnerable, like an open wound, bleeding and raw and open for anyone to jab. They’re all a bit broken, a bit frayed, like a patchwork blanket slowly unravelling at the seams.

“You know what Taylor wants to call us?” Louis murmurs, cheek pressed to her knees. She can hear Niall and Liam shuffling to look at her, but she doesn’t move. “The Avengers.”

She barks a laugh. “It’s showy, I know. I was snooping around SHIELD files, and there’s a whole case-load on it. Some new initiative. All our profiles are up there, specialist areas and stuff like that.”

“But if you avenge something, it’s getting pay back, right? It’s making something right.” Louis swallows. “So that’s what you have to do now, with Hydra.”

She expects either of them to call her out on it, on how ridiculous that sounds, on how poetic. But Niall doesn’t say anything, and Liam just sniffs, then mumbles a “thanks, Louis,” and they all lapse into silence.

The Avengers doesn’t sound so ridiculous after that.

 

-

 

 

Sophia finally calls them in about a week later. Louis’ unimpressed; how the hell do SHIELD employ these people? If it’s taken them a week to locate a single Hydra base, then standards must be slipping. Back in her day, she’d had it done in half an hour, with a gun held to her head.

She tells Niall this, and Niall says, “Louis, you’re 21, you’re not allowed to say back in my day”. She may have a point, but seriously. What a bunch of amateurs.

The SHIELD conference room on the third level is Louis’ favourite room. It has huge, wide windows that span the sides. It’s not great from a practical view - too easy to shoot through - but when it’s sunny the light dapples on the mahogany table.

“It’s reinforced glass,” Sophia sighs as they take their seats. “Please stop twitching.”

She looks as polished as ever, in a deep red dress, hair pulled back into a fishtail braid. Her lipstick matches her nails, a startling slash of crimson, and Louis wonders if she’s being taking tips from Taylor.

“How reinforced?” Louis asks innocently, blinking at her. “On a scale of one to ten?”

“Whose measurement are we using?” Sophia counters cooly. “Mine or yours?”

Louis cracks a smile, and leans back in her chair. Liam is sitting stoically beside her, and she sighs. They’re all in uniform, including Liam. The uniform is scuffed slightly, blue dulled and flecks of red on the shoulder. Her shield is resting against the chair, and Louis doesn’t miss how Liam’s fingers flex towards it automatically.

Perrie wanders in, hair the colour of candy floss, winking at Louis when their gazes meet. Louis winks back, then smirks when Perrie flushes. Jade bounces in after, about five foot and able to take down a man three times her size.

“I love all the dangerous women we work with,” Niall mutters, and Louis snickers.

A few more agents wander in, and Louis uses the distraction as cover for their conversation. “You heard from Bressie recently? Any late night training sessions?”

Niall flushes a pretty pink, gaze dropping to the table top. “Nah. He’s out in Marrakech. They need an extra person on infiltration, so they pulled him in.”

“Bit different from his usual job, ain’t it?” Louis asks.

Bressie is a mountain of a man, shoulders as broad as Liam’s, but a total of sweetheart. He’s has a lilting Irish voice that makes Louis think of hot chocolate and the crunch of autumn leaves, and his eyes have crinkles from smiling so much.

He usually works as a training, but sometimes they pull him for covert ops. He’s probably because he looks like such a cutie that he’s so successful. Besides, most people at SHIELD are pretty fluid in what they dabble in. It’s a prerequisite of the job.

“Yeah, I guess.” Niall sighs. She gestures with her hand. “I wish he was here, you know? With all this going on.”

“I know,” Louis sighs, chest tightening. She squeezes Niall’s thigh under the table. “Yeah, I know.”

“It’s a bit shit,” Niall agrees. She frowns for a moment, before beaming at her. Louis almost gets whiplash from the fluctuation in emotions. “But at least I got stuff to tell him, right? Bet he’s never fought a telepath.”

“She’s not telepathic,” Louis reminds her gently, but her heart glows a little. Niall’s always like this - bouncing back like nothing’s happened, always looking for silver linings. How she hasn’t been chewed alive for her optimism, Louis has no idea. Probably because Niall’s too cute to chew out anyway. Even if she is sort of an assassin. “And we might not even fight Styles.”

“That’s what you think,” Niall snorts, eyes glinting. She tosses her hair, eyes cool and steely. “I’m going to rip that bitch a new one.”

“Okay,” Louis drawls, and rolls her eyes. She tries to ignore the flash of panic in her stomach; by all means Niall’s reaction are justifiable - Louis would rip quite a few things if someone had been messing around with her head.

Maybe it’s just everything’s hitting a bit close to home. Styles’ case is like an edited version of her own file - no parents, Eastern European, signed up for an experimental programme, only ended up with abilities she can’t control. It’s all a little too similar - striking at an open nerve with unbridled ferocity.

Or maybe it’s the way she can still hear Styles saying her name, the way her pupils had bloomed in panic, how she’d gone limp and pliant under Louis’ body.

Shit. Louis needs to focus up - she can’t be easy for everyone who knows her forename. She thinks back to electricity running through her like her body was a live wire, and suddenly it’s a lot easier to gather her anger.

She concentrates on the meeting, smirking at the hush that falls when Taylor walks in. “Alright, boss?”

“Be quiet, Widow,” she replies without looking up, and Louis grins.

Niall fistbumps her under the table, and Liam eyes them both suspiciously. “Please pay attention.”

“Yes, captain,” Louis and Niall chime at the same time, then burst into delighted laughter. The less experienced agents look scandalous and Louis smiles smugly; there’s benefits to be one of the highest working agents of SHIELD.

“I assume you’ve all read the briefing,” Taylor begins. She gives them a look that suggests if they haven’t read the briefing, they should leave now. “We’ve located another Hydra base. It’s in Czech Republic, right on the border between them and Austria.”

“Czechoslovakia split in 1993,” Liam blurts out, and Louis startles, then laughs happily. Trust Liam to remember that from their first meeting. Liam looks extremely pleased with herself, then flushes when she realises everyone is looking at her. “Um. Sorry. Just, I knew that.”

“And I’m delighted for you,” Taylor replies, and Louis has no idea how someone packs so much sarcasm into five words. “If I may continue? The base is close to Ceske Budejovice, and we think it’s been used for weapon production.”

Taylor brushes down her baby blue blazer, though Louis knows for a fact it’s immaculate. “Our objective is to take the factory hostage and recover as many weapons as possible. For this reason, the casualty risk is high. You’ve all been informed of the hostile from the last op - it is extremely likely these weapons have been enhanced.”

 _And will be used on you_ , goes without saying.

“The aim of this objective is determine how far Hydra have come.” Taylor gazes at them evenly. “We’re already estimating a considerable amount of time, because finding this factory took an unprecedented amount of difficulty. Hydra clearly have numerous resources on their hands, because they’re almost impossible to track.”

“The only reason this facility was easier to find, is that weapon manufacture always leave a trail. Buyers, transfers, ammunition parts, there’s always something. This is also an opportunity to find evidence against Modest Corporations - any kind of paperwork, sigils, marks, we’re looking for it.”

Louis nods slowly. “So, infiltrate the factory and confiscate the weapons. And what do we do when we inevitably meet resistance?”

Taylor lifts her chin. “You are permitted to use any force necessary. I assure you these Hydra agents won’t show you any courtesy. This is not a hostage situation. .”

Niall hums thoughtfully. “And if we meet our little friend again? What’s the protocol then?”

The question is dripping with vitriol, and Louis winces. “Widow, you’re assigned to the Witch. We’ll have eyes on the building, infra red and body imaging, so once we locate her, you take her out. ”

Louis lifts an eyebrow. “The Witch?”

Taylor smiles, a real one this time, and it’s so rare that there’s an intake of breath around the room. “It seemed appropriate. She can shoot balls of light out of her hands, after all.”

“Why am I with her?” Louis asks, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

Taylor shrugs daintily. “Matter of circumstance. As is, you’re the only one who’s had any interaction with her, therefore you have a slight advantage over the other agents. You never know, she may recognise you. Think of it as a training exercise.”

Louis rolls her eyes. “Thanks, boss. I’m sure my productivity levels will rocket.”

“She means everyone else is too shit scared to take her,” Liam mutters next to her, and Louis grins.

Taylor outlines the rest of the case, and Louis tunes it out. It’s all pretty basic, and she’s too busy thinking about having to face Styles. In all fairness, it makes sense - Taylor doesn’t need the other agents shitting themselves the moment they see a flying ball of light hurtling towards them.

At the same time, Louis isn’t overjoyed at having to meet Styles again. Not only was her last experience unpleasant, but she doesn’t want to walk away feeling like her life has been flipped upside down for the second time.

 

-

 

 

“Tell Liam about Nairobi.”

Louis rolls her eyes. “No.”

Niall has spent the first half hour of the flight trying to convince Louis to tell Liam about all their previous missions. Louis had reluctantly agreed, but Liam had started to look green when she told her how she’d scaled a building in Washington.

“Awe, come on,” Niall whines, wiggling in her seat like an excited puppy. Her light hair is pulled into a messy bun, and she’s running her hands over her bow happily. “When we were in the alley with the ex-cage fighter.”

“Liam doesn’t need to know,” Louis sighs. Her own hair is pulled back into a ponytail. It’s getting long, Louis notes absently, the ends of it dark brown and brushing her back. “And it wasn’t an ex-cage fighter, it was an ex-marine.”

Niall forehead wrinkles. “Oh yeah. The ex-cage fighter was Turkey.”

Liam eyes are wide, bright and shocked like a child. It’s at complete odds to the topic of conversation. “Do you guys do this stuff all the time?”

Louis frowns. “No, the cage fighter was actually when we were on holiday. He was roughing up underage girls, so we taught him a lesson.”

“And broke his rib cage,” Niall sighs happily, and Louis groans.

“Niall, overshare.”

Niall just beams at her. Louis has no idea why she’s so hyped for this mission. It’s doubtlessly because Taylor actually let her go, and didn’t bench her for having her mind played with. Niall shuffles in her seat some more, then fiddles with something in her pocket. “Do you want to see what Liam got me?”

“No,” Louis says immediately, but Niall ignores her and pulls it out.

“Here.”

Louis blinks at her palm. Situated in the middle, is a tiny figurine of Katniss Everdeen. “What the fuck is that?”

“Katniss from the Hunger Games,” Niall answers cheerfully. “I told Liam she was a famous archer.”

Liam nods seriously. “Niall told me about all the medals she’s won.” Liam, bless her, is completely earnest. Her eyebrows are drawn together, and she’s staring intently at the tiny doll. “Apparently twelve is her Olympic number.”

Louis stares at tiny Katniss. It’s actually a pretty good model. It has a little bow and everything. “Um, and why did you buy Niall this?”

Liam’s fingers tighten on her shield. “I felt bad about just running off after the last mission. You know, after everything that happened.”

They’d filled Liam in on Styles’ other power when they went to visit her. Liam had been horrified, then anxious, then inundated with guilt for leaving Niall. Louis knew she’d felt bad, but not to the point of present giving.

“And I said it’s okay, Payno,” Niall smiles, patting her arm. “Louis, give me my doll back.”

“Stop corrupting national icons,” Louis snaps, glaring at her. Niall just snatches the doll out of her hand and starts singing to herself. Louis works with a bunch of idiots.

It doesn’t take long to glide over the Czech Republic. Liam and Niall chatter the whole way, but Louis reads through the case files. She can feel the adrenaline kicking in, buzzing in her veins, and her toes curl in her boots.

The weapons factory is on the outskirts of the nearest town, removed enough that Louis can see the glinting of car lights in the distance. It’s dark and imposing, brick walls the colour of coal.

Louis holds back as the other’s head in; Liam is leading the frontal attack, along with the rest of the SWAT team. They have a unit that is circling from the back, to block any potential exits, and a team in the air to use the thermal imaging cameras and scan the building.

“Widow, the Witch is on the third floor. She’s blocking one of the rooms down the corridor on the left. Are you in position?”

“Affirmative,” Louis answers back. She’s still in the jet, so she motions to Perrie. Perrie flies them to left side, and Louis lands on the balcony. She eases the window open easily - less noisy then shooting it - and slips inside.

The third floor must be the base for the running of the factory, because it’s all white walls and silver floors. Louis can see the corridor she has to head down, and pads round the corner. There’s hardly anyone about, but it makes sense considering what’s going on downstairs. There’s a couple of security guards waiting for her, eyes wide with shock, but they’re not a problem.

Louis takes them out easily, then drags their unconscious bodies into one of the storage rooms. It’s a bit conspicuous if someone rounds the corner to see two motionless bodies. There’s a broom in the storage room, so she snaps the ends off and shoves it through the door handles, just to make sure they can’t get out.

It’s eerie, padding down the silent corridor. There are windows like the ones Louis slid through, revealing the inky sky and glimpses of the pale moon. Some of the doors are still swinging on their frames, their contents abandoned as their owners obviously scrambled with the chaos.

Louis wraps her hand around her gun, and turns the final corner.

At the same time, a ball of light comes flying towards her and explodes an inch away from her face.

She feels the painful flare of heat, a warmth that makes her cheeks glow, but she doesn’t flinch, doesn’t move an inch. It hits the wall instead with a hiss, tiny sparks bursting off it like a firework.

“Well, that’s one way to say hello.”

Styles shrugs. “Oops.”

Louis lifts her gun, aiming it directly at the spot between Styles’ eyes. “Try it again, and I’ll show you what my weapon can do.”

To her surprise, Styles wilts like a dying flower, and drops her hands. “I’d rather you didn’t, if it’s all the same.”

Louis’ heart is knocking against her ribs, jack rabbiting in her chest. She gazes at Styles, takes in every detail she can like she can’t help it. There are dark, purple smudges under her eyes, her skin pale and clammy.

She’s in dark jeans, but they’re ripped and scuffed. The t shirt she’s wearing is too big, and Louis eyes her hands warily. Her fingers keep twitching, tiny crimson sparks emanating from them. For not the first time, Louis’ stomach lurches.

“How can you do that?” Louis snaps, unease making her tone sharp and hard. “How is that possible?”

She doesn’t move her gun, but Styles doesn’t seem particularly bothered. “I volunteered.” She cracks a smile, but it rings of blood and aching muscles. “And you can put the gun down. You’re not going to shoot me.”

She says it with such easy confidence, with a certainty that would be arrogant if it wasn’t for the way her eyes shine with sincerity. Louis tightens her hands on her gun, until her knuckles are white. “You don’t know that. You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

“Neither do you, Louis,” Styles counters easily, but with a bite to her words.

She’s like a caged tiger, Louis notes. Exhausted and beaten and clawing at her cage, but completely dangerous. Power ripples across her whole body, flashing eyes and flexing fingers and the world at her feet.

“Oh, I won’t make the mistake of underestimating you a second time,” Louis spits, anger coiling inside her gut. “I know what you did to the other girl, how you got in her head. Filled her brain with nightmares.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Styles snarls. Her jade eyes are ringed with black, and she’s wobbling slightly on her feet. “I can’t control this. And I thought you were going to hurt me. I thought you were going to take me away.”

“Why?” Louis asks incredulously, unconsciously lowering her gun. “We don’t want you, we don’t have your sister - “

Styles stutters forward, eyes wide. “How do you know about that?”

Louis snorts, letting her gun hang down to her side. “You thought we wouldn’t find out who you are? That we wouldn’t do background checks?”

They’re running on borrowed time, Louis can feel it eating away at her. It scratches at her like an illness, burrows under her skin as she mentally counts down the time she’s wasted. She’s breaking every protocol she has, going against every bit of training she’s ever learnt.

“I didn’t - I don’t know,” Styles shakes her head. “Was your friend okay?”

“Was she okay?” Louis repeats incredulously. “She was terrified, what do you think? Of course she’s not okay.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Styles babbles. She takes a step closer to Louis, and Louis’ stomach drops. “I told you, I didn’t mean it. My powers are out of control since Gemma’s - been gone, and I was scared.” She lifts her chin. “You had a gun to my head five seconds ago, you can’t judge me.”

Louis can feel her hand shaking, and her gun drops to the ground with a clatter. It snaps through the tension of the moment like a broken elastic band. They both jump.

“This - “ Louis struggles to get the words out. It’s so messed up, so tangled and twisted and knotted together. The trembling child in front of her doesn’t add up to the highly dangerous Hydra agent, who took out Louis and played with Niall’s brain. She doesn’t know what do. It feels like she’s on the edge of her cliff, and her toes are curling in anticipation to jump.

“Why are you with them?” Louis mutters finally, rubbing a palm across her face. “Why are you working with Hydra?”

Harry makes a surprised noise, and it’s Harry now, an unconscious slip away from ‘Styles.’ “Hydra? What are you talking about?”

Louis shakes her head, eyes still covered by her hand. “The agents downstairs, the weapons. They all belong to Hydra.”

“But why is that bad?” Harry asks, and Louis snaps her head up. “They’re a peace keeping agency. They’re going to take down Modest, after they destroyed our building. They’re going to make the world better, they’re going to help.”

Bile rises in Louis’ throat, and she fights the urge to vomit. “Harry, no, no, that’s not what they are at all.” Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

Harry has gone even paler. Louis can see a muscle ticking in her jaw. “That’s a lie. You’re lying.”

Louis shakes her head desperately. “No, I’m not. You have to believe me.”

“No.” If Harry had been despondent and splintered before, she’s angry now, the air vibrating with the force of her frustration. “No, that’s not true. You’re lying.”

Harry’s hands are flickering now, spitting sparks like a broken bulb. Louis eyes them nervously, heart thumping. “I’m not, I swear. You attacked me last time, there’s no reason for me to babysit you.”

“You’re _lying_ ,” Harry shouts, and energy explodes from her palm. It smacks straight into Louis’ hip, and she groans in pain. The pain radiates across her abdomen and she clutches her stomach.

“Fuck,” Louis moans, staggering backwards. “Fine, I was just trying to help, but fucking fine.”

Harry’s hands are clasped over her mouth. Her pupils are blown in horror. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I - “

She reaches for Louis’ wrists, wrapping her hands around them. Louis freezes at the warmth of Harry’s long fingers, then yanks her wrist back harshly. Harry lets out a little broken whine, and Louis exhales guiltily.

Somehow they’re close now. Their faces are only an inch apart. Louis can see where Harry’s dark lashes brush her cheeks, how they flutter over eyes ringed with exhaustion. Harry breathes in shakily, and Louis can see how her full lips curve with the movement.

“I didn’t mean to,” Harry mumbles, the words slurred. Her eyes are glistening wetly. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, I’m just - I don’t know what’s going on any more. I thought - “

Louis doesn’t know what Harry thought, because then there’s a shout from behind them. Her head whips around, muscles tensing automatically. There’s two Hydra agents sprinting towards her, guns in hand, and she slides into a crouch.

Her hand is on the knife in her belt, and she’s raising it to throw, when suddenly the men stop. More accurately, the men start writhing and spasming. Louis widens her eyes in shock as she realises Harry’s the cause of it.

In fact, Harry’s moving now, shoving Louis behind her. She looks like a wrathful goddess, lips curled back into a snarl and power swirling in her palm. Louis belatedly realises Harry’s protecting her, standing in front of her to block any bullets.

The men collapse with a thump. Louis stands up with steady feet, hand still wrapped around the knife handle. “Why did you do that?”

Harry blinks at her, then smiles suddenly. It’s so unexpected that is makes her heart skip. It’s the same smile Niall has when they’ve finished an especially gruelling mission; exhaustion and dirt and sweat mixed with the bittersweet tang of happiness.

Harry shrugs, and Louis can see a dimple under all that sadness. “We weren’t done chatting.”

Laughter bubbles out of Louis’ lips, unbidden and slightly hysterical. Harry looks surprised, but then she starts giggling too, tiny hiccups of laughter. They’re surrounded by a fallen gun and two unconscious bodies, whilst chaos rages below them, and the only sound is the echoes of their laughter.

“This is ridiculous - “ Louis begins, but then everything happens in slow motion.

There’s a noise behind her, and Louis turns to see Niall skidding round the corner. She sees the anger bloom on her fast, the terror, the fury, the determination. It’s like Louis’ underwater, everything dull and muted as Niall notches her arrow.

It flies true. Niall is such a good shot that Louis feels the brush of the feathers on her face - before the arrows embeds itself in Harry’s shoulder.

The bubble pops, and then there’s nothing but noise, sirens blaring again and again and again. Harry shrieks in the pain, the noise terrifying. Niall is running up behind her, yanking Louis away.

Her nails cut into Louis’ shoulder, but her eyes are fixed on Harry’s. The other girl is shaking, clutching at her shoulder desperately. She yanked the arrow out, but Louis can see the tip is blue - meaning it’s laced with anaesthetic.

She can hear Harry screaming - screaming “Louis!” over and over again, and it’s not just ringing in her eyes, it’s resonating in her skull too. She clutches her head desperately, and as Harry crashes to the floor, she slips into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for any mistakes - they're all mine, as I was so desperate to get this up my betas haven't seen it yet.
> 
> also I promise HARRY AND LOUIS WILL ACTUALLY INTERACT MORE everything is so angsty right now sigh, so tell me if it's a bit much!
> 
>    
> here is the [fic link for THIS CHAPTER :D](http://ariadneodair.tumblr.com/post/129930062037/ive-got-fire-for-heart-chapter-3-9k-she-feels/)  
> \- I AM HAVING A DIFFERENT FIC POST FOR EACH CHAPTER so gooooo look at the gorgeous edits for each chapter (and reblog please *ily*)
> 
> [my tumblr](http://ariadneodair.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  
> 
> [girl direction blog](http://everyjawdrops.tumblr.com/)
> 
> I'll put the fic post up on tumblr later xx


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally updated! I am so sorry but real life is so crazy and I get writing little bits but not all of that. And this somehow ended up over 9k wooo AND harry and louis interact woop :)

Louis wakes to a throbbing head and the beep of machines.

She opens her eyes slowly, wincing as pain radiates across her skull. Her vision is slightly blurry, so she blinks a few times to sharpen her focus. She’s in SHIELD’s med bay, lying on one of the beds.

Niall is curled up in the chair opposite her. She’s drooling in her sleep, hair a blonde birdnest, legs tucked underneath her. Louis snorts. “Not much of a welcome party.”

Niall startles awake, eyes immediately seeking out all the exits. She relaxes when she realises they’re all clear, then grins when she sees Louis is awake. “Hey, we can’t all enjoy a premium night’s stay in SHIELD’s medical bay.”

Louis rolls her eyes. She struggles up, mentally assessing her body. The only thing that aches is her head, and she’s sure there’s a bandage on it. Apart from that she has a handful of bruises littered here and there, but everything seems to be working.

“You want some water?” Niall asks, filling a cup from the little machine in the corner. “You left me to do fucking debrief, by the way.”

“Sorry I was being knocked out by telepathic screaming,” Louis snaps, taking the cup. “Just felt like my head was being ripped apart.” She goes to take a sip of water, but the cup goes tumbling out of her hands as she moves abruptly. “Shit, where’s Harry?”

“You’ve spilt that everywhere,” Niall groans. “I’m going to have to get a towel now.”

Louis swings her legs out of the bed, head spinning slightly. “Niall, where’s Harry? Where have they taken her?”

Niall eyes her strangely. She places a hand on Louis’ shoulder, shoving her back. Louis wiggles uncomfortably as the damp material itches at her skin. “It’s fine, we’ve got her. SHIELD has her in one of the cells. I think they’re interrogating her now.”

Panic lashes through her stomach, trepidation cracking in her gut like a whip. She scrambles off the bed, shoving Niall’s hands away. “Shit, Niall. We have to get to her.”

“Louis,” Niall barks, grabbing her wrists. Louis tries to tug away, but Niall holds her firm, eyes flicking over Louis’ face. “It’s fine, we’re safe. I took her down and now SHIELD are dealing with her. It’s okay.”

Louis shakes her head frantically. “No, Niall, you don’t understand. We have to help her, she’s not working for Hydra, okay?”

Niall is acting so slowly, responding to Louis’ plea with careful hands and a sceptical gaze, and Louis battles the urge to rip her hands away. She’s still half drunk from disorientation, and the ringing in her ears won’t stop.

Liam enters the room at that point, effectively snapping the tension. Her face lights up when she sees Louis. “Nice to see you awake, Widow.”

“Liam, where’s Harry?” Louis demands, finally wiggling out of Niall’s grasp. She spots her uniform folded neatly on one of the chairs, and shamelessly strips out of the medical gown she’s in.

Liam splutters loudly, but Louis ignores it. Like she’s going to stay in that plastic bag any longer. She feels instantly better once she’s in her catsuit, the material clinging to her thighs and wrapping around her body comfortingly. She holds out a palm and Niall hands over her gun without asking.

“We need to go find Harry,” Louis says firmly, clicking the safety on her gun. “She’s not working for Hydra. She doesn’t know what they are.”

“Louis, what is going on?” Liam asks. She crosses her arms, and Louis doesn’t miss the way she adjusts her stance to block the doorway. “We can go see Harry, okay? But you have to tell us what is going on.”

Louis sighs. “I spoke to Harry before you got there. She thinks Hydra is good, that they’re working against Modest. She doesn’t understand they’re the bad guys.”

Niall stares at her for a good few seconds. “Louis, please tell me you didn’t fall for that crap.”

Louis blinks. “What?”

“You have to admit that’s the oldest trick in the book, Lou,” Liam interjects gently. Her hands are twisting in her shirt, and she looks distinctly uncomfortable. “She probably let herself be captured, so Hydra can then have a plant at SHIELD.”

Louis shakes her head, eyes wide in disbelief. “No, she’s not. You didn’t - you didn’t see her. She genuinely didn’t know.” Niall and Liam are looking at her with pitying expressions, and irritation sparks in her bloodstream. “She protected me!”

Niall’s eyes are the colour of frozen lakes. “Louis, Styles tried to kill you, remember? And she played around with my head like it was a toy. And last night - she _screamed_ and she knocked you unconscious. Forgive me for not making a friendship bracelet.”

It feels like there’s glass in her throat, splintered and brittle and slicing her words in half. She tries to vocalise it - the way Harry had looked at her, how the last thing she’d screamed was Louis’ name being ripped from her rose petal lips.

“Niall,” Louis whispers. “Niall, how many times were you told you should have killed me?”

Niall’s face pales. “That’s not the same.”

“You should have put an arrow through my brain and you know it.” The words tumble out, confident in their honesty. It isn’t a lie; in all fairness she should be dead right now. “SHIELD gave you an order and you were meant to follow it. You had literally zero reason to trust me.”

Niall’s fists clench. She takes a step forward, eyes burning into Louis’. “You know that’s not the same, _this_ is not the same.”

“How isn’t it?” Louis shouts. She never shouts, not at Niall. She moans, she bitches, she mumbles or she snipes, but she doesn’t raise her voice, and the shock of it reverberates around the room. “You didn’t see her, Niall, she was crumbling from the inside and I couldn’t stop it.”

The room falls silent. Niall steps forward slowly. She brings her hand up, cupping Louis’ cheek. “Louis, she’s playing with your mind. Just like she played with mine. She’s manipulating you.”

Louis closes her eyes, drinks in the soft touch of Niall’s palm. “You have to trust me on this one. I don’t think she’s lying. I don’t.”

It’s _me_ , Louis wants to mumble, _it’s me_. She wants to carve the words into the sky and burn them into her skin. It’s her from three years ago, exhausted and on the edge of insanity. Bled dry of all emotions and running out of corners to turn.

She didn’t deserve the chance Niall gave her, will spend her life paying that debt, and maybe this is a way to write a cheque. The Red Room tugged her down into a whirlpool she couldn’t escape from, and SHIELD gave her a lifeline. You can’t be saved if you don’t want to be, and this girl is screaming for a lifeboat.

“Liam,” Niall says suddenly, eyes never leaving Louis’. “What do you think about this?”

Louis lets her gaze flit to Liam’s. She looks nervous, but she sets her jaw resolutely. “I wouldn’t trust that witch as far as I could throw her.” Niall lips twitch up. “ _But_ \- I made a lot of decisions people hated me for. And I think... I think Louis should be able to make hers. Even if I don’t like it.”

“Fine.” Niall steps back, heat seeping away and dissipating like it was never there. Her eyes are flat. “You know I’ll have your back, you know I will _always_ have your back. But I won’t help you with this.”

Louis slides a hairband off her wrist and pulls her ponytail tight. “I’m not asking for help. I’m asking you to let me do this and don’t try and stop me.”

Niall slides her teeth into her bottom lip. When she speaks, her throat is hoarse. “You don’t have to save anyone, you got that? This isn’t payback, this isn’t redemption.” Her fingers flex. “And the moment that little bitch turns on you, I’ll put an arrow through her heart, okay?”

Louis nods. “Didn’t expect anything less.”

They lock gazes, then jump when Liam coughs awkwardly. “Um, this is uh. Really touching, but you do realise Harry isn’t actually being interrogated, right?”

Louis and Niall stare at her. “What?”

Liam smiles fondly, eyes crinkling at the edges. Louis is pretty certain the affection’s directed towards them. “I just came past Sophia. She said they got an unconscious Styles in there pretty easily, but now no one can get in the holding room.”

Louis raises her eyebrows. “Why not?”

“ _Because_ ,” Liam drawls, “every time they open the door, Styles tries to reduce them to little piles of ash.” She furrows her eyebrows. “I think she may have even set the fire alarm off.”

Louis can’t help it - she lets her lips curve into a smile. It’s a lot more amusing when a flying ball of kinetic power isn’t being hurled towards her. Also the thought of Taylor in a fireman uniform is pretty funny. “So she’s the prisoner, but she’s holding SHIELD captive?”

“It’s not fucking funny,” Niall mutters, and Louis feels the smile slip off her face. “Liam, how long ago was this?”

Liam shrugs. “Maybe half an hour? But Sophia said she would page me when there were any developments.”

“Then let’s go,” Louis orders, brushing her suit down. She strides forward, pausing with one hand on the door-frame. “Niall, I get it if you don’t come.”

Niall gazes at her, then snorts suddenly. Her eyes are still steely, but the corner of her mouth ticks. “Don’t be so dramatic, you eejit. ‘Course I’m coming. I meant it when I said I had your back.”

The tension melts between them, like hot water poured over frozen ice. Niall rolls her eyes at her begrudgingly, and Louis just grins.

 

-

 

 

The urge to laugh doesn’t diminish any less by the time they get to SHIELD’s containment level. Louis has never seen SHIELD in such disarray: there are agents buzzing around everywhere, tense and frantic and wide-eyed. Louis navigates through the stream of people easily, like water splitting around a stone and linking back together smoothly.

All the holding cells have rooms on the other side with one way glass, so SHIELD can see in on interrogations but the people inside can’t see out. It’s easy to tell which one Harry is being kept in, because there are klaxons going off and the agents are all wearing sour expressions.

Sophia is waiting for them at the end of the hall. She’s in a deep purple, peplum dress, her blank expression not portraying any of the chaos of around them. “I paged Tomlinson, not you, Liam.”

Louis doesn’t miss the way Sophia says Liam’s first name, but not hers. Rude. She and Sophia have a bond. A bond forged from paperwork abusement and irremovable bloodstains. “Wait, you paged me?”

Sophia narrows her eyes. “I paged the med bay, asking them to pass the message on. Director Swift wanted you down here as soon as possible.” She adopts a bored expression. “You sneaked out of med bay, didn’t you?”

“Only a little,” Louis amends, smiling at her sweetly. “Why does Swifty want me?”

Sophia just gestures towards one of the rooms. It’s full of agents, but it might as well be filled with angry kittens. All of them look more disgruntled than the last. Louis smirks as she glances around, but it tumbles from her lips when she glances through the one way glass.

Harry is sitting nonchalantly at the table. She looks completely at ease, confidence tangible through the glass. Her legs are crossed slightly, the dark denim hugging her curvy thighs. There’s a smirk dancing around her bubble gum lips, lashes an ashy sweep as she flutters them mockingly.

Her eyes are almost feline, glinting green-gold and flashing with amusement. She’s leaning back in her chair ever so slightly, completely composed. She’d fit straight into a sunny beach, reclining on a lounger, cocktail in hand as she watches the waves kiss the shore.

Taylor is watching Harry with daggers for eyes. She purses her lips when she sees Louis. At this point Louis is itching to go in there and talk to Harry, but she also knows that showing that would be the stupidest thing to do.

So she does what she’s best at; she lies. “What is this about? You better not be volunteering me for interrogation. I like a bit of pistol whipping as much as the next girl, but I also don’t like having my brain pulled about by someone who barely meets the legal drinking age.”

Taylor narrows her eyes. Louis holds her gaze, unblinking. Taylor is good, but Louis is better, and she’s been playing it for much longer. Finally, Taylor speaks. “We’re having a slight communication problem.”

Louis widens her eyes slightly. She crosses her eyes, jutting out her hip so she looks exceptionally deceptive. She even lets her bottom lip tremble, because she’s a tease like that.

“A communication problem, or a ‘we’ve kidnapped a power telekinetic and have no idea what to do with her’ problem,” Louis counters. She lets her tongue flick out, darting across her lips. “You realise she could get in Niall’s head, right? I bet she can hear all of this right now.”

As if on cue, Harry lifts a hand and waves regally. She can’t possibly see them through the glass, powers or not, but Louis feels a shiver run down her spine as a dimple curves in Harry’s cheek.

“We tried trial and error,” Taylor shrugs. “And it worked. So it’s third time lucky.”

Louis rolls her eyes. “And what if it’s three strikes and I’m out?”

“You don’t even have insurance,” Niall interjects helpfully.

Louis nods solemnly. “I didn’t even have insurance.”

Taylor would probably murder them if she didn’t have so many witnesses. Louis can only tell her homicidal intentions because she’s worked with her for so long. Taylor has the composure of a rock.

“Ask Styles how long she’s been working for Hydra. What weapons do they have - how did they turn her into a weapon? We need to find out what she knows.”

Niall lifts a hand. “Are we going to torture her?”

Louis shakes her head. “Nah. I’ve tortured enough people to know you can’t do it like that anymore.”

Liam makes a little whiny noise in the back of her throat. Louis glances at her only to see she’s gone slightly green. “Um. Not that I torture people on a regular basis. Uh.”

“Do your damn job, Widow.”

Louis bites down her bottom lip, hard enough that it looks believable. “And I don’t get any protection? I just walk into the lion’s den?”

“She hasn't chewed you up yet, so we all feel very optimistic.”

“Thanks.” Louis purses her lips. “I really love our working relationship.”

She rolls her eyes just to really seal the deal. She saunters over to the door, inwardly smirking as the other agents jump out of her way. There’s a slow slide of anticipation as she strides over, but Louis’ never been a coward and she’s not about to start now.

She falls into the chair elegantly. Harry’s eyes flick to hers, amusement rippling over her face. Louis gets the impression she’s seeing this as a cat and mouse game - only they’re both predators, and neither of them play fair.

“You know, we’ve got to stop meeting like this. People are going to talk.” Harry’s voice is the slow drip of caffeine, syrupy sweet molasses, the rough drag of gravel on a cut palm.

Louis exhales slowly. “Sweetheart, people are already talking.”

She ignores the way the endearment slips out. It’s a game she plays with all her marks - make them feel special, wanted. There’s a reason she’s called the Black Widow after all - make them feel like Louis will move the world for them, only to burn its whole existence. (Only Harry’s not a mark, not to Louis, and the wires between them are tangled and knotted).

“How much of that could you hear?” Louis asks. She keeps an edge of boredom to her tone, crosses her legs and slouches a little. “How much did you pick up?”

Harry snorts. The dim light of the room make her skin gleam silver. She doesn’t look any less ethereal - eyes burning emerald, skin as light and perfect as marble, lips full and the colour of rose petals.

“I can’t read minds,” Harry answers matter of factly. “I just - pick up on certain emotions and thought patterns.” She smiles beatifically. “Like a radio.”

Her tone drips with insincerity, but Louis just raise an eyebrow. “You can’t read people’s minds, but you can make them relive their own nightmares.” 

A shadow falls over Harry’s face; the change is mercurial, the sudden rage of a tsunami when the waves were previously baby blue. “I told you - I was protecting myself. I thought she was going to hurt me.”

Harry cocks her head to one side. It feels likes her gaze is burning straight into Louis, and her stomach pitches when Harry’s eyes flash crimson. “Niall, right? That’s her name?”

Thank fuck Louis is a professional. “ _Hawkeye_. And she _was_ going to hurt you - with reason. You were working for a Nazi organisation - not to mention you had the distinct advantage of telekinesis and mind manipulation.”

Harry remains stoically silent, so Louis pushes on, puts weight on that bruise. “Here’s the way this is going to go. You tell me who you are, and how they did this, and what the hell Hydra want. And if you can do that nicely, then we’ll discuss what’s going to happen to you.”

Harry stares at her. “You realise I could break out of this in a second, right?” She lifts her hands slowly, red sparks spitting from her palm. “I could rip the cell apart, wall by wall.”

Louis leans forward. “Do it then.”

To her astonishment, the threat is met with laughter. It takes her a second to realise it’s Harry’s - giggles bubbling from her chest and spilling out into the interrogation room. “I don’t think that would help me make the right impression.”

Harry languidly watches the sparks dance around her fingers. “Besides, you’re pretty cute. It’d be a shame to kill you.” She beams then - giving Louis a front row ticket to her fucking dimples.

Louis is so fucking fired.

“And what impression is that?” Louis asks, ignoring Harry’s flirtatious smile. She must imagine Harry’s face falling.

Harry sits up. “Oh yeah, the agenda and that. Right, I’ll tell you where all the Hydra bases are.”

Louis blinks slowly. “You’re going to tell us where all the Hydra bases are?”

Harry’s grin grows. “Yeah. Low level empath and expert in my mind bending, remember? Plus I’m not stupid. You pick up on things.”

Louis’ heart is jack rabbiting in her chest, but she ignores it. She appraises Harry coolly. “And what do you get out of this?”

Harry shrugs, eyes flicking to the table and - _there_. Louis can just make out the chink in the armour, the crack in her defence. “You let me take down Hydra with you. And SHIELD pardons me for all previous offences under misinformation.”

Louis can’t help it - she gasps a little. “You’re kidding, right? How do we have any idea you’re not a plant? That you’re a spy Hydra have let out - that you’re going to lead us to the first base and it’s going to be a trap. That the moment we turn our backs, you’ll be messing with our minds.”

Louis leans forward, knows that her eyes are ice cold and burning. “This is probably part of the plan - talk about how much you want to _change_ , how mean and nasty Hydra were to you, and that you’re _different_ now.”

Anger flares in Harry’s eyes. “I’m not fucking lying, I want to help. I told you I didn’t know - “

Louis laughs, the sound harsh and threaded with condescension. “Oh, sorry, I forgot about that. Your sudden realisation that Hydra weren’t the upstanding eco-warriers they claimed to be. How long did it take you to catch on? Was the rising body count not a tip off?”

Tension crackles between them, and Harry only adds gasoline to the flames when she slams her hand on the table. “I didn’t fucking know, okay! I was confused and scared and Modest - “

Louis snorts derisively. “Oh, I forgot, _Modest_. How is that better, by the way? How did you even know that Modest were bad? Oh, and on that topic - creating more destruction doesn’t wipe the slate clean on the destruction that has already been caused.”

She bites her bottom lip. “Ever heard that two wrongs doesn’t make a right? I’m not sure that’s the sort of moral standing SHIELD wants to endorse.”

Harry’s eyes are wild now, shots of jade circling a pool of black. Her hands are clenching in the table, and Louis notes that the metal is melting beneath them. “I know that, okay? You think I don’t? I was terrified, I was distraught - everyone I knew was dead, and this was a fucking option out. I grabbed it with both hands and I didn’t look back - and I didn’t have time to think about my morals, because my life was in tatters. And if you don’t think I regret that every second of the day, then you are fucking mistaken.”

Louis reaches out, quick as a striking snake. She wraps her fingers around Harry’s chin, tilting it up. Harry freezes. She’d spat the last part of her speech, voice ringing off the walls. The apples of her cheeks are brushed red, her chest rising with the force of her words.

Louis’ fingers are gentle, but firm, exerting just enough pressure that she could snap Harry’s neck if she wanted. She can see Harry’s pulse fluttering wildly. Her skin feels warm, the heat bleeding through the pads of Louis’ fingers.

“There we go, darling,” Louis murmurs. Her face is so close to Harry’s she can see her lips part at the words. “That wasn’t too hard to admit, was it?”

She lets Harry’s chin go and sits back. The sudden rush of air between them feels like a punch to the stomach. Harry’s eyes are hazy, and Louis swears the golden-green is flecked with red. “That was a - “

“A test, yeah,” Louis interrupts, sighing loudly. “Had to get you to tell the truth, didn’t I?” She shrugs. “You put on a good show, but you had to crack eventually.”

Harry stares at her. She coughs, running a hand through her hair. “Well, I was telling the truth anyway.” She looks like a grumpy kitten, petulant and mewling, and Louis has to hold back a laugh. “So really, you were trying to help me?”

“No.” Yes. Yes, of course she fucking was. Louis isn’t going to hold Harry’s fucking hand - she’s going to bully her into spilling her guts, so Taylor can see she’s telling the truth. Or that she’s just an exceptional liar. Either way - it’ll stand her in much better stead than the psycho who’s humiliated a load of SHIELD agents and successfully barricaded herself.

Taylor’s morales are a grey area - but if something piques her interest, then it’s black and white. She saw Liam as an asset - not as a PTSD survivor - and that’s how Louis has to spin this. Make Harry seem unique and above all useful; if Taylor thinks there’s some way she can use Harry to her advantage, she’ll take it.

“I think you were,” Harry says confidently. Her smirk is back, lips twisting until there are deep curves in her left cheek. Louis might have a fixation. “So what do we do now? Do SHIELD have a special handshake or something?”

Louis laughs. “You think I’m in charge? Not that I couldn’t be, but you’ve got to convince more than me, Styles. I’m only in here because I’m the only one you won’t try to disintegrate. God knows why.”

Harry remains impassive. “You haven’t shot me yet.”

“Fair enough.”

Louis clears her throat, ignores the furious itch of all the questions she wants to ask. Now is really not the time. “What if we just make you tell us where the bases are? Once we know that you’re dispensable.”

Harry snorts. “I think we can all agree that’s the one thing I’m not. You need me - just like I need you. There’s no way you can face Hydra alone.” Her eyes flutter close briefly, and when she opens them they’re shining. “Trust me - this is nothing you’ve ever been prepared for.”

 

Louis feels a sick sensation rush through her at Harry’s words. She looks so earnest, so focused. She may as well be on her knees begging, which is an image Louis really can’t think about right now. “What do you mean?”

Harry shakes her head. “Uh, uh, uh. I’ve been screwed over by people who ‘have the world’s interests at heart’ before. Maybe I’m lying to you, but maybe you’re spouting bullshit too. I’ll tell you what I know when I have proof you’re not going to fuck me over.”

“What are you, a businesswoman?”

“No, just tired,” Harry answers with complete honesty, and it makes Louis’ heart tug in her chest.

She clears her throat, pushing herself up from the table. “Well, I’ll put your proposition to the boss. Good talk.”

Harry leans back in her chair. Louis isn’t convinced she won’t go toppling backwards. “The best.”

Louis ignores the jolt of heat at Harry’s sly tone. Someone in the other room must press the door lock, because it slides open with a hiss. She’s greeted by a sea of impressed faces. The urge to roll her eyes is strong to say the least.

 

-

 

 

Louis can’t handle the amount of high pressure meetings she’s been in recently. Ever since fucking Sokovia, her blood pressure has gone through the roof. The case files are astronomical. At least the KGB never bothered with paperwork.

They’ve been going round in circles for almost an hour. After Louis’ little heart to heart, Harry had cheerfully gone back to barricading herself in the holding cell. The only agent who’d dared to go in, had backed out whimpering. Harry beamed the whole the time, which had been simultaneously the creepiest and the hottest thing Louis had ever seen.

Niall is vibrating with irritation. Her hands are clenched, lips white and pressed into a thin line. She’s like a lit flame and this whole conversation is a gallon of gasoline. “This is a stupid, fucking idea. This is the stupidest idea we’ve ever had. This is fucking idiotic.”

Taylor purses her lips. They are baby pink today, matching the long sleeved shift dress she’s wearing. The skirt flutters around her as she walks, hands smoothing down the pearly fabric. Louis is vaguely impressed how she can look like the cover of a 1940s home magazine, whilst having the power to kill thirty men in a blink of an eye.

“As ever, thank you for your frank assessment, Agent Horan.” Taylor eyes Niall cooly. “But I’m not in the habit of making mistakes. It is undeniable that Styles could be a serious resource. She could give us crucial insight into Hydra and their strategy.”

“Or she could screw us all over and knock our brains out our skulls,” Niall huffs. She’s sitting next to Liam, instead of Louis, something she’s trying not to take to heart. “What if you’re all being controlled now? And you just don’t know!”

Sophia hums thoughtfully. “We’ve run a number of diagnostics. Her background checks out. And the few tests we could conduct suggest she isn’t lying. It would be interesting to monitor her.”

“Interesting until she murders us in our beds,” Niall snaps. “I can’t believe you’re even considering this. Who the hell signs up for a Nazi experimentation programme anyway?”

“In all fairness, she didn’t know it was Nazis,” Liam interjects gingerly. She’s chewing on her bottom lip nervously, eyes wide and apprehensive. “And yeah, who would be crazy enough to be a test subject for a German doctor?”

Niall swallows, staring at the table sullenly. “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.”

Liam clears her throat. “Look, I’m not saying I trust the good girl act either. But couldn’t we try? See if her information is useful. We can have precautions in place, shadow her to make sure she doesn’t go rouge.”

“We can have our own sources corroborating her locations too,” Taylor continues. “I have an external agency willing to work with us, that claim to have some intel.”

Louis perks up in interest. “What agency?”

Taylor coughs. “Kloss has been in touch.”

Louis almost falls out of her chair. “Kloss, as in Karlie Kloss?”

Taylor lifts one shoulder. “Yes.”

Louis gapes at her. Taylor, who takes ice queen to a new level, looks as if she’d rather jump bleeding into a pool of sharks than be having this conversation. “I thought she worked for the CIA?”

“She left,” Taylor answers crisply, and the _like I did_ is implicit. Louis gapes at her some more. “She’s been working in Eastern Europe ever since, and claims to have intel for us.”

Louis deliberately keeps her mouth shut. She had to do a lot of digging to get information on Taylor - a prerequisite of anyone she works with, for self-preservation - and she’s not sure it won’t get her killed. “When is she liaising with us?”

“We’ve scheduled a meeting,” Taylor continues smoothly. “Kloss can corroborate Style’s information. And if she doesn’t, it’s not like we won’t have back up. Overall, I think it’s worth the risk. We can handle a psychotic teenager.”

“Fantastic,” Niall spits, shaking her head. “What next? She’s moving in?”

Taylor gazes at her. “Well, now you’ve mentioned it.”

Liam blinks at her. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Shared communal space improves social bonds and team coordination,” Sophia rattles off. “Studies have proved that living in close proximity - especially for women - can improve overall team performance. We have a SHIELD apartment already in mind.”

Liam’s closes shut with a click. “You were just going to move us? Without asking? What was I supposed to do with my flat, my stuff - “

“It’s already moved,” Taylor cuts in. “We sold the lease this morning.”

Liam stares at her. She looks proper upset, her cheeks flushed and her hands clenching into fists. It may be a bit abstract, but Louis would guess disrupted continuity for someone who has literally been suspended in ice for seventy years, may just be a trigger “You what?”

Niall covers her eyes with her hands. “This is so bad.”

“We’re not your puppets,” Liam snaps. She shoves back from the table, and Louis is a little taken aback by how formidable she looks. The muscles flex under Liam’s grey shirt, her knuckles white with how hard she’s clenching her hands. “You can’t just move us around like chess pieces. Everything I own is in there and you just packed it all up.”

Louis thinks of Liam’s barren, little flat, with it’s custom furniture and white walls. She’s doubts there’s another in there to pack three boxes. Liam looks livid, so furious about the meagre possessions she has. It makes Louis’ head hurt.

“It’s a stupid idea,” Niall agrees. At this point, Louis is pretty sure Niall just wants to antagonise Taylor even further. “Working together is one thing. Living together - we’re like a time bomb.”

“Are you that desperate?” Liam snarls, smacking her hands down on the conference table. There’s a collective inhale when the surface creeks, but Liam doesn’t even notice. “Do you really think it’s going to make that much of a difference? Are you that desperate that changing our accommodation is a viable option?”

“Actually we are,” Taylor snaps, and everyone falls silent. “Yes, Miss Payne, we are. I don’t think you understand the gravitas of the situation. There are rumours of unlimited Hydra bases. We have no idea what kind of hold they have on the modern world. There could be a hundred more enhanced humans hiding in the woodwork, and we have no way to fight them.”

She lifts her chin. “So quite frankly, if there’s even a chance that you four fighting for the shower in the morning can improve our chances, I’m going to take it.”

Nobody says anything. Liam’s forehead crinkles. She wobbles on her feet for a moment, before collapsing into her chair like all the fight has gone out of her. Niall glances between them nervously. She’s biting her nails, and Louis can see a smear of crimson from where she’s caught the flesh.

Louis sighs. “We get to choose.”

Every head in the room snaps round to stare at her. Taylor raises an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“We choose the house,” Louis replies. She speaks slowly, languidly, enunciating every syllable. “If we’re going along with it, we’re doing it our way.”

Taylor purses her lips. “Fine.”

Louis lifts one finger. “I wasn’t finished.”

She can see Niall beaming at her from the corner of her eye.

“You give Liam back her things.” She shakes her head as Taylor opens her mouth to argue. “I know you have them hidden somewhere, don’t lie. You probably wanted to see if there was anything you could leach from them. Which is a violation of page three of the Employee’s charter. Article..”

She trails off, then clicks her fingers. “Article 38, was it, Sophia?”

Sophia’s fingers twitch. “Correct.”

Louis smirks. She’s maybe enjoying this a little too much, but what’s the point of being the Black fucking Widow is she can’t mess with people. “I thought so. So either you send one of your little interns so find _all_ of Liam’s things, or I’ll go find them myself.”

Taylor inclines her head a fraction. It looks physically painful. “Fine. I didn’t think I’d see the day the Black Widow wanted to go house hunting.”

Louis smiles beatifically, so you can see every one of her teeth. “Right now, the Black Widow wants to slit your throat for treating me like a pawn. But I figured DIY SOS was a bit more peaceful.”

Niall snorts. Liam is gazing at Louis in wonder, lips curving up into a smile. Louis ignores the flush of warmth spreading through her chest, and narrows her eyes at Taylor. “And what happens to Styles?”

Immediately Niall’s face shutters off, all the warmth and humour draining away. Even Liam looks uneasy, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip.

“What about her?”

“You said the four of you.” Louis cocks her head to one side. “If you accept her offer, then where are you keeping her?”

Taylor reaches up to slowly push back a honey blonde strand. Louis feels her stomach pitch and roll, cold fingers of suspicion circling her heart and squeezing hard. She has no doubt SHIELD would take advantage of having an ‘enhanced human’ in their care.

They would probably toe the line of consent, but Louis isn’t leaving Harry here to become their lab rat.

“Stop while you’re ahead, Tomlinson,” Taylor answers finally. “We’ll have this discussion another day.” She claps her hands once, immediately back to being a polished and professional business women. “If you insist on your own place, then fine. I expect coordinates and a blueprint within an hour of you settling in. I don’t want if further than a twenty mile radius from SHIELD headquarters and Agent Smith will be visiting frequently.”

Louis rolls her eyes. “Can’t wait.”

Taylor nods. “Until further notice, Harry Styles will be considered a member of the Avengers initiative. Her insider information could be crucial, and SHIELD consider her under supervision, but not a level one threat yet.”

She looks at Niall pointedly. “If after a trial period you feel she is a significant threat to SHIELD and the operatives for which they stand, we will bring her in for review. But for now, we’re going to utilise her skills.”

Niall presses her tongue into her cheek, but doesn’t say anything. Her face is a mask of contempt, her fingers twitching, and Louis’ heart sinks even further.

 

-

 

 

Niall drives like a maniac. She keeps overtaking on corners and she never keeps her eyes on the road. They’re going so fast that the trees around them are a blur of pine green. Louis is pretty used to it; Liam on the other hand looks as though she’s going to throw up.

“This better be a fucking mansion,” Niall spits. She jabs the air for emphasis, glaring at Louis. “I still can’t believe you agreed to this.”

“Could you watch the road - “ Liam begins, but Niall only twists around to scowl at her too. They narrowly avoid a tractor.

“Don’t you start, Payno,” Niall snaps. “You began well, why didn’t you follow through? Really fuck Taylor up.”

The corners of Liam’s mouth turn down miserably. She’s in a plain grey shirt, and Louis can see the glint of dog tags under the collar. Liam probably thinks they’re safer close to her beating heart than in a cardboard box in SHIELD’s possession. Which is further proof the ice didn’t freeze her brain. Louis approves.

“I thought it was a good idea,” Liam mumbles. “I thought it would be like back in the war.”

Louis and Niall exchange glances. If it was up to them, this wouldn’t even be an option. Louis loves Niall like a sister, but she needs her space. It’s the way she was raised; another characteristic the Red Room carved into her with a razor sharp knife.

There was no one to cling to in the Red Room, no one to cry to. It was about survival, pure and simple. You didn’t help people over the ice; you smashed it beneath them so they sunk to the icy bottom.

It took her three years to warm up to Niall and besides - that was instinctual. She owed Niall a debt. It’s not her fault the little fucker slunk under her skin and refused to leave.

Liam is different though. She needs a team, craves people around her to gather close and hold close to her heart. It sounds like she wasn’t exactly popular seventy years ago - Louis could cry at the irony - but sometimes she mentions her old best friend. She doesn’t say a lot about her - from what Louis can gather, the kid got into just as much trouble she did and saved Liam’s arse on more than one occasion.

There’s no denying that Liam is horribly, heart breakingly alone. Louis still hasn’t gotten out of Liam why she’d ditched the states, but it probably has something to do with the amount of graves waiting for her once she’d opened her eyes.

“I’m surprised you were allowed in the barracks,” Louis snorts, in lieu of crying over how fucked up they all are. “Weren’t girls and boys banned from breathing near each other?”

Liam rolls her eyes. She doesn’t bite Louis’ head off though, which is progress. “We weren’t that bad. When we were touring - before I um - “

“Fucked shit up,” Louis and Niall interjects helpfully.

Liam flushes. “Um, before I _showed them my true potential_ , I just shared with the chorus girls.” She smiles, and it’s large but tinged with nostalgia. “They were really nice. Betty taught me how to jive, and Sharon showed me how to do my hair in rollers.”

She sighs. “They were kind. They didn’t - laugh at me or anything. Martha even let me borrow her lipstick once.”

The memories are all edged with bitterness, like an overripe apple. Niall twists around again, grabbing Liam’s hand and squeezing it. “They sound nice, Leemo.”

Liam nods. “They were. Could you - could you look at the road now?”

Niall blinks. “Oh. Sure.”

Louis settles back into her chair. She flicks the radio channel idly. It’s some repetitive pop tune that grates her nerves. “It’ll be fine. I am fully aware we’re a cruise ship of emotional trauma and poor coping methods, but. It’ll be fine.”

Liam leans forward between the front seats. “How did you find this house? Did you - you didn’t do anything _illegal_ , did you?”

“Just now or in general?”

“ _Louis_.”

“No, I didn’t,” Louis moans. “Why do you have to suck the fun out of everything? This was surprisingly above board.”

It was actually. All Louis had to do was call in a favour with an old client. Nick Grimshaw is a media mogul - and due to inherit a fortune with her father finally pegs it. Louis has been assigned to her during an assassination attempt, and they’d got on pretty well, in an antagonistic, loathe filled way.

Nick had been more than happy to scout the market and, more importantly, foot the bill. The exclusive spread she’ll get on the Avengers will more than make up for it. Louis hasn’t told Taylor that yet though.

“I just called in an old contact.”

“Wait,” Niall says, snapping her fingers. “What was that about the other day? When Taylor said she was bringing Kloss in on the project? She looked like she was going to shit herself.”

Louis smiles smugly, settling back in her chair. “I’m not sure I can tell you that.”

In an unprecedented move, Liam kicks the back of Louis’ chair. Louis and Niall both turn and stare at her. Liam shrugs. “Uh, sorry. It’s just so annoying when you do the mysterious bit.”

“Are we corrupting you finally?” Niall crows happily, smacking her hand on the steering wheel. “Captain America is finally acting like a toddler.”

Liam smiles wryly. “Well, it was quite annoying.”

Louis snorts. “You just don’t understand the benefits of espionage. You just charge in wearing a spangled leotard.”

“Back to Taylor,” Niall says loudly. Louis sighs.

“Okay, so you know how Taylor used to work for the CIA?” Liam coughs and Louis frowns at her guiltily. “Oops, sorry, Liam. You were having an ice bath at the time. Anyway, Taylor used to work for the CIA. Only there was a huge bust up between her and Director Gomez. I have contacts over there - “

“Of course you have,” Liam mumbles. Louis flips her off in the mirror.

“ _Anyway_ , I was doing some private research and all I could find was that they had a disagreement over professionalism. It’s weird because her and Gomez were so close - Taylor was vice-director. But something happened and then Taylor got sacked.”

“And then she started her own secret agency,” Niall cackles. She holds her hand up for a high five. Louis rolls her eyes but obliges. “Sorry, but you have to admit that’s pretty bad ass. Carry on.”

 

“Thanks so much,” Louis snorts. “But yeah. then she came over here and set up SHIELD. Well, less set up and more revived. SHIELD was established over a decade ago, but they didn’t have a lot of power. And then Swifty basically reinvented the whole thing, one soul-crushing move at a time.”

“But, back-tracking. Karlie Kloss was also a member of the CIA. She was in the same special op team as Taylor and a few other girls. She was the muscle, would you believe it, because that girl could be a _model_. Anyway, I knew she was cutting back how much she did for them, but I didn’t realise she’d left completely.”

Liam scrunches her nose up. “Why is that so weird?”

Louis rolls her eyes. “Because why would Taylor let an ex-CIA agent come work with us? Plus Taylor looked as though she would rather dip her head in acid then discuss it. I’m pretty sure her and Karlie used to be a _thing_.”

Niall shakes her head. “No, no way. The only way Taylor is interested in anyone is if they can sever a man’s head from thirty paces. I was beginning to think she was like a Barbie doll down there. Or playing for my team.”

Liam perks up. “What team? Do you play a sport?”

Niall and Louis exchange looks. “Niall is asexual,” Louis says slowly.

Liam frowns. “Like a plant?”

Louis tugs a hand through her hair. It’s too early for this. “Yeah, you can message Sophia for papers on this one. I’m not giving Captain America the damn sex talk.”

“Or lack of sex talk,” Niall says cheerfully. Louis fist bumps her.

Liam just looks extremely confused, so Louis distracts her by pointing out the window. “Look, we’re almost here.”

Niall guides the car down a dirt path, leafy pines on each side of them. There’s a house at the end of the path. It’s pretty; three floors. The bricks are a smooth brown, the front door painted a light blue and the tall windows letting light shine through.

The car comes to an abrupt halt. “This is the house?”

Louis shrugs. “I guess so. Let’s go explore.”

It’s stunning inside. The floor of the hall is a rich mahogany, spiral staircase weaving upwards like a tower from a fairytale. The kitchen is huge - painted a soft lilac, island in the middle and large wooden table.

Louis pushes open another door and raises an eyebrow when she sees they have an _indoor pool._ Liam squeals when she trails her fingers through the sparkling water, grinning at Louis in surprise. “Think this is for you.”

She hands Louis a post it note stuck to pool ladder. It reads: _think of me, N x_ and Louis smirks. Trust Grimshaw to be dramatic.

An exploration of the rest of the house reveals a gym, four bedrooms, a games room and a bathroom for each of them. It’s ridiculously gorgeous - all clear lines and light dancing along the corridors and carpet you can curl your toes into.

“And Nick is paying for this?” Niall asks in wonder. She’d quickly claimed the bedroom on the third floor, claiming she ‘needed to roost.’ Niall is so fucking stupid sometimes. Liam’s bedroom is also on third floor, and Louis’ is on the second.

Louis nods. “Well, I did save her from getting shot in the head. And I checked the security - it’s voice recognition, retinal scans, I think there might even be a DNA check in there . They’ve got scramblers wired into the roof, so they couldn’t find us via satellite. And I believe there could be a bunker under the pool.”

“This is ridiculous,” Liam breathes. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Louis shrugs. “Well, get used to it, Payne.  This is officially our new residence.”

She pointedly doesn’t mention the fourth bedroom.

 

-

 

They have a meeting with Sophia the next day. Apparently Harry has information she wants to share, so they all get called in to listen to it. The moment Louis gets the message her whole body lights up, her toes curling in anticipation and nervousness swimming heavy in her blood.

Niall is fuming the whole ride there, bones rigid and eyes dark. Liam is determined to be a peacemaker, chattering on like a caged bird, getting progressively more frantic as her tweeting does nothing to soothe the tension.

By the time they get to SHIELD, Louis’ nerves have been sufficiently shredded. Her stomach flips when Harry finally walks into the room.

She has SHIELD agents flanking her, but they’re nervous, twitching. It’s a strange juxtaposition - the armed guards make it appears SHIELD are in control, but it’s flimsy, frail, easily pulled apart like a cobweb.

Harry looks utterly at ease. She flops into a chair, flashing her dimples. “Heeey.”

“I’m going to kill her,” Niall announces promptly. She waves her bow in the air, nearly smacking Liam on the head. “I can not do this. Can’t we just torture her?”

“We can’t torture her,” Sophia drones. “It’s breaking some pesky human right amendment. So we just have to talk to her.”

“Also, torturing people isn’t very nice,” Harry frowns. She wrinkles her nose, looking genuinely offended.

“Making people see their worst nightmares isn’t very nice,” Niall mumbles sullenly. Louis glares at her. Harry must hear her, because she glares at Niall too.

“What did you have to tell us?” Liam says quickly. She smiles at Harry tentatively. Harry blinks in surprise, then gives her a full-fledged smile. Liam looks a bit dazed; Louis can commiserate.

Harry sits forward. “Hydra are in possession of some kind of power source. It’s completely unique to anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s how they’ve enhanced their weapons.” She swallows. “It’s how they enhanced _me_.”

Louis’ eyes widen imperceptibly. “What do you mean?”

Harry shrugs. “I mean that’s where they got their juice from. They know how to manipulate it and that’s a huge advantage for them.”

Louis leans forward. Harry’s eyes meet hers and she feels the crack of energy between them. Her mouth is dry. “Well, where are they holding it? What does it look like?”

Harry hums. “Blue.”

Louis gapes at her. “Blue?”

Harry shrugs. “A light sapphire if we’re being precise.”

“That’s all you can tell us?” Niall snaps. Harry glances over to her, lips pale and parted. Her eyes look darker today, the colour of churning waves. “That is was blue?”

Harry clenches her fist. Louis can see the way the skin there drains of colour. “I wasn’t exactly awake for the procedure.”

A hush falls over the room. It wraps around Louis’ throat, heavy and suffocating like a fog. Liam coughs awkwardly. “The power source - could it be a cube?”

Niall snorts at her incredulously, but Harry’s head snaps up, staring at Liam. “Yes, I think so. How did you know that?”

Liam groans. “Because it’s supposed to be in the ocean. Specifically, the same one I crashed into seventy years ago.”

Louis rubs a hand over her face. “And you didn’t think to mention this?”

“I didn’t realise it was relevant,” Liam snaps back. “I don’t like - thinking about that time. And I only saw glimpses, during a time where I was fighting for my life. So sorry if I don’t have photo memory.”

“Photographic memory,” Louis corrects. Liam pulls a face at her. Louis pulls one right back. “So what is it?”

Liam shakes her head. “Like I said, I only saw it once or twice. Red Skull was talking about powers of the supernatural? I don’t know. He just kept saying that he was going to ‘start a regime,’ and wipe out the old one. He had it hooked up to a machine. That’s how he was creating the weapons.”

Liam swallows. “And that’s when things got really bad.”

Niall thunks her head on the table. “Just tell me. I don’t even care at this point.”

“When we were on the plane - “ Liam stumbles over the words, chewing on her bottom lip. “For the last time. Hydra’s plan was to release missiles, ones that would destroy the world. It’s why I had to crash it in the first place. And Schmidt was making this huge speech about the new era.”

“I could see the cube, but honestly? I had other things to worry about. Plus then Schmidt touched it and he - it was like an explosion. I don’t know how to explain it, just this huge outburst of power. And when it was over, Schmidt was gone. Vaporised, I’m not sure.”

Liam heaves a big sigh. “And then I don’t know what happened to the cube. I was too busy scrabbling for the plane controls. It must have crashed when I did.”

Louis tugs a hand through her hair. “So Hydra must have gone looking for it. They must have worked it out.”

Sophia hums thoughtfully. “It’s a lot of effort, isn’t it? To go trawling around in the ice? And how did they not find you at the same time?”

Liam shakes her head. “They told me the crash site spanned miles. And besides, I doubt Hydra were looking for me. Everyone thought I was dead. And like you said - it’s effort. I’m pretty certain fishing for the cube was a desperate act - searching for the corpse of a super soldier would be overkill.”

Louis narrows her eyes. “So we know what it is, now _where_ is it?”

Harry shakes her head. “I don’t know where it is. I can tell you where the Hydra bases are, but you can bet that they’re keeping this under wraps. If I were in there facility I would be able to tell.”

Niall scoffs. “So you’re zero help then.”

Harry narrows her eyes. “I’m more help than you.”

“Okay,” Liam says loudly. “At least we know what Hydra are protecting. And that Harry’s not lying.” She shoots a glance at Harry, who preens like a pretty bird. “Now we just have to find out which base it’s at.”

Louis sighs. “Perfect.”

 

-

 

She goes to visit Harry the next day. She’s still held in a SHIELD cell. It’s eerie walking down the corridor by herself, so used to Niall’s familiar footsteps, Liam’s determined stride. There are a few agents down there, but it seems more for presentation than anything.

One of the agents opens his mouth as she approaches, but he snaps it shut at the look she gives him. Louis smirks and presses the pad for the door, steeling herself as it opens with a hiss.

Harry isn’t sitting at the table. It jars Louis, differs from the picture she’d had in her mind. Instead she’s slumped against the wall. Her legs are pulled up to her chest, head rested on her knees. She looks young and worn down and ragged around the edges.

Louis coughs. “Hey.”

Harry’s head snaps up. Her eyes flash crimson, before they dull back to a mottled green. “Hello, Louis Tomlinson.”

Louis pads across the room. She slides against the wall, keeping a careful distance between her and Harry. She crosses her legs, hands in her lap. “Liam believes you, you know.”

Harry looks at her slowly, movements languid and careful. She cocks her head to one side, pools of jade burning into Louis’ own eyes. “I was telling you the truth, you know.” The last part is mocking, a mimic of Louis’ own statement.

Louis changes tack. “Do you know your eyes turn red sometimes? You look like a werewolf. Or someone who’s possessed.”

The corner of Harry’s mouth ticks upwards. “I didn’t, actually. It probably means my powers are even more out of control.”

It’s feels surreal, this. Their backs pressed to the cold wall, sharing sharp statements, hiding behind the easy cover of secrets. The prisoner who has the keys to her dungeon and the queen who wears a bloody crown.

Louis hums softly. “Thought you could break these walls apart?”

Harry sighs. “Yeah, and how quickly would they put me back in?” Her face is an ugly mask of exhaustion, a cracked concealment of despair. “I told you. I want to take down Hydra. I don’t want to run anymore.”

She looks at Louis beseechingly. “I’m trying to be _good_.”

Her heart feels too big for her body, pressing against her ribs and beating out of her skin. “Move in with me?”

Laughter bursts out of Harry’s chest, shattering the stillness of the room. “Moving a bit fast, aren't we, sweetheart? Who the hell moves in with someone they just met?”

Louis rolls her eyes, feels the heady sense of relief slip into the space beneath her ribs. “Don’t be too flattered, darling. You’ll have room-mates. Specifically, a super soldier and an expert archer who hates your guts.”

Harry tilts her head. She closes her eyes, mouth parted slightly. It’s obscene. Louis’ brain is screaming at her to abort, right now. “You want me to move in with the Avengers?”

Louis arches an eyebrow. “Taylor had some idea it would improve team morale or something. I don’t know. The house has a pool though.”

Harry opens her eyes marginally, so they’re just slits of green. “And what if I kill you in your sleep?”

Louis shrugs. “What if I kill you in your sleep? Or Niall does. Actually you should probably be prepared for that. Niall is an opportunist. Lock your door at night.”

Harry’s lips curve into a smile, her lips a sweet cupid’s bow. “Whatever will we tell people? I’ll be a ruined woman. Shacking up with the first girl I meet.”

Louis stretches. “I don’t know. Say we had a discussion. And it just kind of happened.”

Harry nods slowly. “That might work.”

Louis presses her smile into her shoulder. “Maybe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here is the [fic post](http://ariadneodair.tumblr.com/post/131091049127/ive-got-fire-for-a-heart-pairing-harrylouis/) for this chapter, huge thank you to marta as usual :)
> 
> thank you to all my betas, especially [my lovely new one! :)](http://louisngl.tumblr.com//)
> 
> and here is [me tumblr if you want to chat](http://ariadneodair.tumblr.com///)
> 
> comments are lush :) I sometimes feel like I write too many metaphors and similes and it all sounds a bit pretentious, so please tell me if you think that :)

**Author's Note:**

> FIRSTLY here is a video about [the Black Widow (Louis' character)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjUgzfLxlfw) it's really cool and pretty short :)
> 
> and here are some links about [Liam's character - Captain America AKA the cutest cinnamon role EVER :D](http://www.mtv.com/news/1725356/captain-america-winter-soldier-101/) it's technically supposed to be preparing you for the winter soldier, but it can prepare you for further of Eve's girl direction diatribe.
> 
> um, I still don't feel overly satisfied with this chapter, so I hope to write better in the next one!
> 
> FEEDBACK IS SO PRECIOUS like kudos or comments or anything are incredibleeeeeeeee 
> 
> here is the link for the [fic post](http://ariadneodair.tumblr.com/post/127264749787/ive-got-fire-for-a-heart-chapter-1-10k-slow/) \- to be honest you don't even have to reblog, look at the AWESOME edit marta made for the fic ily
> 
> here is [my tumblr](http://ariadneodair.tumblr.com/) come tell me it was shit I don't give a fuck (I give too many fucks this fic is my baby)


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